THE ART OF ELENA GUNDERSON
Words: Morgan Febrey
If you were to sprint full speed past one of
Elena Gunderson’s pieces, you would think
it bright and cheerful. Travel any slower than
that and something entirely different would
emerge. It’s not until a full stop that her art
will come into full picture. It’s as if Elena tells
lies with her use of color. Bright and cheerful.
Shortly after first glance, the actual forms and
composition sink in. Dark, bizarre, and truly
unique with enough detail and symbolism to
stare at for an hour.
Contained within each of Elena Gunderson’s
pieces of art is a thought you’ve never
thought. Something you’ve never seen.
And it’s filled with youthful and vibrant color.
I actually don’t know how her use of color
could be a lie. It is possible to be bright and
cheerful, dark and bizarre simultaneously.
She has honestly created a perfectly
balanced colorful dark place.
Morgan: Your art draws from a very colorful
dark place. How’d you arrive at this unlikely
juxtaposition?
Elena: “Colorful dark place” is a very apt
description for my work! Haha! I suppose
that it’s less of something that I intended, but
more of something that emerged from visual
influences throughout my life. I’ve always
been interested in historical art, photos, and
oddities, but at the same time have had a
love affair with patterns, apparel, and pop
culture. I like to play with the absurd, and ride
the line between something beautiful, and
something uncomfortable. The characters
in many of my paintings are very stoic, and
statuesque; but their environments and
surroundings play more to a dark sense of
humor and imagination.
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Morgan: Let’s talk about your medium. It
adds to the playfulness of your work. What is
it exactly?
Elena: My primary medium is gouache,
which is pretty much a more opaque
watercolor. Most of my paintings, though
usually have several different mediums. I
often dye my paper or wood with fabric dye
to create a base coat of color, and then apply
layers of watercolor and gouache. In no
ways do I like to box myself with the media
I use, and often work with markers, colored
pencils, ballpoint pens, and acrylic. I plan on
working with oils in the near future, a media
that I have often pushed aside because I
do not have the patience to wait for it to dry,
but I have always been enamored with the
smoothness, saturation, and color that oils
are able to achieve. Color is my everything,
and I want to assault people’s eyes with it.
Morgan: What feeling(s) or experience do
you hope people viewing your art take away
with them?
Elena: Haha! I love this question because
I never quite know what people are taking
away with them after viewing my art. I like
how subjective art is, and I really enjoy
getting any reaction from an audience.
Sometimes people will ask me what my
paintings are about and I’ll ask them what
they think they’re about. I like to have the
viewer create their own narrative for my work.
It’s funny to me when people pick through
the symbolism in my work. I tend to load my
work with imagery that I often find symbolic,
but don’t always expect people to get it. I
think people can sometimes take my work
too seriously, but I don’t know if that’s a bad
thing. I just want people to have fun when
they see my work.
Morgan: What type of things are you into
outside of making art?
Elena: Even though art is my life, I do have
a life outside of it. I’m a busy bee most days,
but when I do have free time, I like to spend it
gardening (I’m a freak in the garden), playing
with dogs, eating good food, drinking beers,
and kickin’ back. I like takin’ it easy.
Morgan: Hamburgers or Pizza?
Elena: Pizza. My life outside of art is
pizza. I hate pizza. I love pizza. Pizza is all
encompassing.
Morgan: Your inner child is more vibrant
than most people’s. What are some of your
favorite childhood memories?
Elena: I am a big child. Like in that movie,
Big. It’s hard to pull a favorite childhood
memory. I remember pretending a lot of the
time. I built fairy houses and weird stuff. I was
always kind of the oddball at school; I loved
the attention I got from dressing like a freak.
I’d have to say that my happiest memories
are those with my family. There are some
locations from my childhood that only exist
in memory now. It’s the things that have
disappeared over time that have the most
striking and profound meaning to me.
Morgan: Freestyle, yo! What would you want
to say about yourself, about your art, about
politics... Just kidding about the politics.
Elena: Passion is so important. I don’t know
what my life would be if it wasn’t fueled by my
art. As stressful and sacrificial as it may be,
it is the fuel for my happiness and my drive
in this world. I am so fortunate to have such
an amazing network of family, fri