Dott Schneider Mixed Media Artist Born 1968, Cleveland, Ohio
For the past five years, I've been swimming in a pool of nail enamel and motor oil. Powder blushers, eye shadows, and lipstick round out the cosmetic cache. Such non-traditional materials are employed to uncover the cover girl, to examine where beauty begins and where it ends, and what to make of all that glorious flesh in the middle. These explorations are meant to be humorous and revealing.
For example, in the collaborative series with artist Mary P. Traverse, "Helen of Troy, Instant Face in a Can" consists of hand-painted mannequin heads, titled after six common female stereotypes: The Bitch, The Prude, The Trailer Trash, The Flirt, The Slut and The Goddess. Each mannequin head has a corresponding paint can, the labels taking cue from beauty ads. This faux advertising campaign launches The Bitch as "always right"; The Prude as "always fresh" and so on. The label inquires: "Up late partying? Throw on a Helen of Troy Instant Face® and look as fresh as a flower! Who says you can't put a price on beauty?" and goes on to entice you to "collect them all for your many faces". The sole purpose of this series was to take ownership of a negative and turn it into a positive. After all, nobody can tell you who you are.
In my most recent work I examine "A Lover's Discourse: Fragments" by Roland Barthes, drawing on his book as reference for deconstructing the relationship between the lover and the loved one (or object) using self-portraiture as my vehicle while remaining faithful to cosmetics as my medium. This first volume in of paintings in a series of nine is a testament of "love letters, bandages and screams." (Douglas Max Utter, Angle Magazine #10). The focal point for many of the paintings in the first volume, titled "Reflections & Complaints of the Lover When Alone" is the mouth, which is, to most, the fount of the lover's discourse. Each painting is stamped on the frame with its title, alluding to Barthes' interest in the visual aesthetic of the text.
I am continuing my study of "A Lover's Discourse," these next two volumes titled "Loss" & "Glee," and propose to show them together. Both volumes will contain 10 paintings, all mixed media (read cosmetics) on galvanized steel. Wherein "Reflections & Complaints" purposefully handed over a voyeuristic experience, these pieces intend to bring the viewer literally and figuratively into the work.
I have been fortunate to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Rouen in Rouen, France, where I received my C.E.A.P in 1996. My professors excelled at forcing me to look at life experience as fuel as well as how to tell a story. The fact that they emphasized independent research brought the integrity of my work to new levels. One professor, Virginia Whiles-Serreau, opened my eyes to a realm of women artists that have influenced my work, including but not limited to Annette Messager and Louise Bourgeois and art critics such as Linda Nochlin, whom I previously hadn't known about. Virginia's no-bullshit attitude helped forge my resistance towards just being another hobbyist and to understand that as a woman artist I am not a second-class citizen.
Sheilagh Ethne O’Leary is an established award-winning art photographer born and living in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Her work has been exhibited/collected internationally and appears in numerous art journals and publications. Sheilagh received her art education through mentorship with Manfred Buchheit, Concordia University’s Faculty of Fine Art, Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Rockport Maine Workshops. Read More...
Artist Statement & Biography
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