STATEMENT
“I’ve got your memory
Or has it got me?
I really don’t know, but I know
It won’t let me be”
-Patsy Cline, (She’s Got You)
When I was in 12th grade, a classmate of mine passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. It was my first true experience of death. While she was alone in her house she had a seizure, and fell face down on a couch pillow. In the aftermath of my classmate's death, her mom proceeded to completely redecorate and refurnish the entire room where they found her. The furniture, pillows and drapes, art on the walls, everything went in the trash out on the curb.
You can claim you don’t believe in ghosts, but it’s clear why my classmate's mom reacted the way she did. The room became a witness, the couch cushions, the tv, the framed photographs. They were not physically altered, but they were not the same. The objects themselves became haunted by a moment. Just like an object is eroded by the passing of time and its environment, so too were these objects eroded and marked, maybe subtly, invisibly, by the tragic moment they existed within.
In moments of tragedy and death, we see most apparently the potential for objects to become vessels.
My aunt who passed away in 2016 would always drink a ton of soda. My aunt and uncle would drink enough Big Gulps from 7/11 that they would gauge distances in relation to where the 7/11’s were in our neighborhood. I always knew when they were coming over because we had to clear out the top shelf of the fridge to fit their Big Gulps.
Now when she visits me from the great beyond, she still brings a Big Gulp.
This is how the larger metaphor of “ghost hunter” or “paranormal investigator” enters my work. I let myself be guided by intuition through the creative process. It’s as if I am in contact with other dimensions, conjuring a work from beyond the ether. My sculptures are “haunted” by memory, my body can be “possessed” during performance rather than just playing a character. My works are inter-dimensional collaborations, with multiple authors: myself and my invisible muses.
My work deals with ideas of embodiment, the thought that objects contain memories and other living/breathing entities. I conjure ghosts like my aunt, living in Big Gulps, Christmas decorations, oversized t-shirts, home movie archives, trampolines, neon, karaoke, the list goes on. The poltergeist muse haunting each disparate work determines its necessary materials and methods. My artworks are translated: objects and moments that exist in another world or another plane of reality that I attempt to make visible and perceptible to others. What occurs is an imperfect replication, a reproduction that is hazy or abstracted, as if it was run through a game of “telephone”.
Poltergeists speak through my intuitive object making and possession-as-performance, connecting the present into the past and into other realms. The ghosts can’t wait to meet you.
BIO
Elise Wunderlich (b. Portland, OR, 1993) is a multimedia artist working primarily in sculpture, video, and performance. She received her BFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2016 and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Elise has been a member of Wayfarers Studio Program since 2017. She has exhibited with Nitemind and Secret Friend (New York) at Mana Contemporary (New Jersey), the Wurks Gallery, Expose Gallery, and the RISD Museum (Providence, RI).
CV
b. 1993 Portland Oregon
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
EDUCATION
2016 BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Sculpture
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
AM/FM, Solo Performance, Wayfarers, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
What We Create May Save Us, Curated by Cynthia Reynolds, Ejecta Projects, Carlisle, PA
2019
Solar Flashback, Curated by Nitemind and Lauren Klenow, Nitemind Sync, New York, NY
2018
Annual Member Show, Curated by Tom McGlynn, Brooklyn Wayfarers, Brooklyn, NY
Boundlses Karaoke&, Brooklyn Wayfarers, Brooklyn, NY
2017
How To Draw A Tyrant, Curated by Jasmine Dreame Wagner, Brooklyn Wayfarers, Brooklyn, NY
TRACES, Group Show, Curated by Omari Douglin, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
2016
Senior Invitational, Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
Everything Must Go, The Wurks Gallery, Providence, RI
Better Again, Curated by Julia Wright, The RISD Museum, Gelman Gallery, Providence RI
Sculpture and Photo Senior Exhibition, Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence RI
Snapshots, Skaters, Moonshine, and God, Metcalf 320 Gallery, Providence, RI
2015
True Believers, Curated by Charles O’Leary and Katey Acquaro, Expose Gallery, Providence, RI
Adult Playset, Curated by Charles O’Leary and Katey Acquaro, Expose Gallery, Providence, RI
PLAY, Performance, The RISD Museum, Farago Gallery, Providence, RI
2014
How Does Distance Look?, Benson Hall Gallery, Providence RI
COLLABORATIONS AND CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2021
Secret Friend Summer Sessions Vol. 2, H0L0, Brooklyn, NY, June 26th
2019
Secret Friend 008, Magick City, Brooklyn, NY, August 16th
2018
Secret Friend 002, H0L0, Queens, NY, March, 2nd
2017
Secret Friend 001, Brooklyn Bazaar Cellar Lounge, Brooklyn, NY, December 9th
RESIDENCIES
2018
Brooklyn Wayfarers, October - Present
2017
Mana Contemporary BSMT, Summer 2017
PRESS AND FEATURES
2017
POND Mag, “Pictionary: Video Installations with Secret Friend’s Elise Wunderlich” December 7th
2012
Oregon Public Broadcasting, Art Beat Interview Segment, Season 14, Episode #1413