up the wall

Olja Stipanovic

Unsettled and inspired by actual situations, my work consists of collages, texts, found objects and spatial interventions which employ visual gestures of testing, contempt, and refusal to play by the rules in order to resist the norms and indoctrinations I am now hurdled with on my own terrain. My newest work – LITHO-STROLLERS, is a series of photo based collages and cut up lithographs exploring movement through space as I now experience. This work, made in and marked by the years since my child’s birth, focuses on what happens to people when they are confronted with „mothering‟ in contemporary, urban, transient, non-spaces ruled by mobility - where it actually happens - as opposed to domestic, intimate spaces where they usually imagine raising children takes place. My artistic method uses economical means and conceptual practices - and is now shaped by my resentment for the impossibility, the abyss between being a mother and functioning well as an artist. My effort to keep consistent work hours and some form of studio space while providing for a child in the past 3 years has made my art making a reflection of balancing guilt, the other side of the scale – directly opposite of my appropriateness as a maternal care provider. Finding support for my decision to continue making art in precious, interrupted intervals that continue to be questioned and measured by my family and colleagues has become an integral, conscious part of my work. Please refer to: https://sites.google.com/site/postpartumafterparty/ SHORT BIO: Olja Stipanović – born 1975 in Pula, Croatia. Based in New York since 1992. Received her BFA [1998] and MFA [2000] at Parsons School of Design - Fine Arts Department. Recipient of several scholarship, awards and residencies [U.S. Embassy Cultural Grant in Zagreb, Croatia, 2004, Institute for Electronic Arts - Alfred University, 2005. “Art Materijal” grant from Croatian Institute of Contemporary Art, 2004. Independent Artist Initiative Grant from - QCA, 2007. Manhattan Graphics Center Residency/grant 2011]. Since 2000, participated as guest teaching artist, arts programs consultant and lecturer in numerous art programs. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in New York City, the U.S. and abroad.