Olivia Eis considers a lot of her works self portraits. She finds inspiration for much of her art through introspection.
The Madison artist and recent University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate said this as she touched up a sister piece to one of the works Eis currently has featured at Carnelian Art Gallery as part of its ongoing “Figure” exhibition, which in its entirety focuses on representations of the human body. The piece in the show is titled “Sweet Surprise,” and depicts a pink-haired, pink-skinned feminine character with a strawberry on her tongue against a black background. The character covers her left eye with her hand whose nails are painted black. Eis used acrylics on circular panels for both paintings. The sister piece also portrays a feminine character against a black background, except with blue hair, wide green eyes, and a bug on her tongue.
Eis has three more artworks on display as part of Figure, which lasts until Dec. 28. Carnelian Art Gallery has scheduled a holiday reception for Figure at 5 p.m. on Dec. 6, too.
The companion pieces “were basically an exploration of style for me,” Eis said. The harsh outlines in the aforementioned works are one way that Eis has blended her enjoyment of creating digital art and painting with acrylics.
“I got into digital art very young,” she said, adding that she received her first drawing tablet when she was 10. “I didn’t seriously start painting until high school.”
Eis, who works for a screen printing company full-time, has ambitions to become a full-time artist. The Village of Menomonee Falls native said she has had a lot of supporters help her on that journey thus far. It’s Carnelian Art Gallery’s only hope is hat she gains even more.
“The sooner I can support myself with a full-time art business of my own … that’s when I’ll be blissful,” Eis said.
Her studio is currently located in her bedroom, which is almost overflowing with her art. Behind an easel in the bedroom’s righthand corner, canvases are stacked atop one another. More pieces adorn Eis’s bedroom walls. One features a representation of a person with glasses, but behind the glasses are fried eggs. Another that Eis held up during our visit to her studio was a delineation of a nude man casually sitting in a chair. Several more pieces are renderings of feminine figures that are surreal and psychological in tone.
“Saturated, high contrast colors populate my compositions, all of which carry an air of magical realism,” Eis writes on her website, where you can find more of her work and social media handles. “Each piece ranges in theme from thoughts on bodies and our existence in them, to mental and emotional health, to the span of experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
To create her works, Eis said she uses photographs as references to bring her idea to life. She’ll spend days or even weeks mulling over her concept before a burst of inspiration hits and its time to get to work.
When asked about how it felt when Carnelian Art Gallery approached her about showing her pieces, Eis said “I was really excited.”
As the show continues until just before the end of December, Eis hopes her pieces make their viewers “feel something.”