“Stephanie Patton: Level at the McNay Museum,” McNay Art Museum

Via The McNay

FROST OCTAGON VIDEO

Stephanie Patton: Level
Stephanie Patton
American, born 1969

Diffuse (2008)
Video, 17 min. 31 s.

In an effort to avoid confrontation, Diffuse is literally about the feeling and ultimate liberation of “walking on eggshells.” This video reflects the anxiety that accompanies the desire not to upset or provoke unwanted behavior in another individual. For the artist, making the work was an anxious effort in itself. It took months to prepare the blown-out eggs and to create the set on which the video was staged. The action was documented in one continuous recording.

Conquer (2013)
Video, 8 min. 31 s.

Based on the metaphor to “rip off the Band-Aid,” Conquer is a humorous work that takes this saying literally. In the pursuit of grasping and overcoming painful emotional and physical experiences, this action ecompasses the act of dealing with the short-term pain involved, but then moves to a place of relief, healing, and ultimate growth.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Stephanie Patton’s art crosses the realms of photography, sculpture, painting, installation, performance, video, audio, and text. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and a Master of Fine Arts in photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She also studied vocal and comedic performance through the New School, Upright Citizens Brigade, and Gotham Writers’ Workshop, all in New York. Her work is often humorous in nature and frequently investigates aspects of human emotion.

Patton has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in solo and group exhibitions including shows at Arthur Roger Gallery, Louisiana ArtWorks, and Ogden Museum of Southern Art, all New Orleans; Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; and Galerie Patricia Dorfmann, Paris, France. She is also a founding member of the Front, a New Orleans artists collective. Patton lives and works in Lafayette.

McNay Art Museum
6000 North New Braunfels
San Antonio, Texas 78209
210.824.5368