ELISE ANSEL | NEW YORK STUDIO SCHOOL

Hosted by the New York Studio School, Elise Ansel spoke about paintings in her exhibition at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:

In these new paintings, Ansel continues her dialogue with art history, viewing the Venetian painters not as revered authorities but as catalysts for her own alchemical practice. By closely analyzing their paintings’ color, composition, and facture—she internalizes their chromatic and structural logic before exploding them onto the canvas as her own. Creation goes hand in hand with destruction.

Throughout the exhibition, abstraction disrupts narrative; the painted substrate is a site of both excavation and invention. By transforming Titian’s compositions into vibrant, non-figurative fields, Ansel changes their meanings, proposing a capacious visual space where historical precedent and contemporary practice converge to generate artistic freedom.

The exhibition is on view through 9 May 2026 at 511 West 22nd Street, accompanied by a fully illustrated publication featuring an essay by Lilly Wei.