scott andresen
My work focuses on the art of repair; more specifically how such actions have consequences both intended and unintended. Using a variety of materially driven processes the work hovers between two-dimensional abstraction and physical representation, each piece goes through separate phases of construction, destruction, and reparation. This theme became central to my work when I was involved in a serious accident over a decade ago and had to put my body through the same stages that my work must go through, in the hope that what comes from the process is stronger than what came before.
My recent series is inspired by various textile mending techniques where repairs commonly happen because of the utilitarian value or the emotional connection the wearer has to the object. In this body of work, I focus on veils of silk scrim, some of the lightest fabric found, and a material where the inherent fragility can be seen in each thread. Culturally veils are often found at important transitional phases in a person’s life, and in these works are composed on the canvas as if caught in the wind, a single frozen frame of something already set-in motion. Once damaged the wounds are then mended with delicate stitches drawing attention to the history of the object rather than trying to erase it, and the scars now function as a badge of honor rather than a marker of trauma.
Scott Andresen is an artist who lives and works in New Orleans, LA. He received his MFA from Yale University and BA from Hunter College. He has over 50 solo and group exhibitions around the country including Lehmann Maupin Gallery, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and The Bronx Museum. He has attended residencies at Black Rock Senegal, Socrates Sculpture Park, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation while also receiving fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts and the Pollock Krasner Foundation. Andresen’s work can be found in the permanent collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art and Museum of Arts & Design in NYC. Scott is an Associate Professor at the LSU School of Art.
