Sensuous Power/Sentient Pain - Gay Elaine Allison

09.15.01-10.13.01

Gay Elaine Allison is an artist specializing in Polaroid transfers and traditional black and white photography. Her work has appeared in a number of local galleries including The Mendelson, The Carnegie, The Silver Eye, among others. Artist's Statement: I have channeled my emotions and passions through art to create a "visual vocabulary" for my audience that challenges symbolic stereotypes and evokes different ways of "seeing." Specifically, I have used photographic juxtaposition via Polaroid transfers that contrast the harsh images of S/M juxtaposed with the soft fiber paper on which it rests. This brings to the forefront an internal contradiction for the viewer, and the small size further creates an intimate confrontation between the observer and the art itself. The goal of my art is to embrace and articulate these internal contradictions.The pieces in this exhibit were made using the Polaroid image transfer process. The images were exposed onto Polaroid film using a Polaroid Land Camera and then pulled apart early in the development process. Immediately thereafter the dye-laden negatives were rolled on to a fiber paper, thus creating the image transfers. The artwork is finished with all archival-grade products. Each of these images is a one-of-a-kind original and cannot be duplicated or reproduced.