Geelong

Chelsea Gustafsson is an artist from Barwon Heads, Australia. In her artistic practice, Gustafsson works primarily in paint, addressing themes of manufacturing and consumption and the environment. 

You Snooze You Lose

I really love the artist’s recent paintings of furniture -- the works are composed in the manner of still life or vanitas paintings, depicting familiar furniture and other household objects in arrangements that are unusual and in some cases jarring. While the furniture is often painted with signs of wear and use, none of it seems “lived in”. Rather, the images give off the sense that they depict the aftermath -- furniture, rugs, books, and other marks of status remaining long after they’ve been abandoned by their owners. 

The artist also adept at using negative space in the composition of her images. Most of the paintings comprise central figures on monochromatic backgrounds -- the ragged, unfinished edges of the paintings give further weight to the impression of these chairs and other objects as removed from homes and regular, comforting use.

Jason Reclining