Area of Research: Drawing, Painting and Printmaking
Undergraduate Institution: University of Montevallo, Alabama
Place of Birth: Birmingham, Alabama
Stefanie Liles-Ray has spent a significant portion of her career examining the
often banal and normative aspects of the suburban, middle-class “American Dream.” Unconfined to a specific medium, she has experimented with Astroturf, wood, found objects, paint, ink, and paper, all specifically to put the dream under a microscope. Everything from home ownership to marriage, career and family are subject to Liles-Ray’ deconstruction. In the monotypes that form the Dog Series, the artist playfully alludes to the popularity of dog portraiture in suburban America. Using a reductive printing technique, ink is removed from the matrix then printed to create bright and crispy defined portraits of her own pets. Set against indeterminate black backgrounds, the luminous dogs also act as placeholders for other types of family portraiture, and for the generic dreams of conformity, happiness and success that they represent.
-CL
Suburban Landscape, 2012, Astroturf, Gesso, Wood, 4’ x 8’
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