Elaine Stocki (born 1979) is a Canadian artist and professor known for her paintings, photographs and her abstract

feminist art The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to produce feminist art, art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and perception of co ...

. Stocki lives in Los Angeles and teaches art at Fullerton University.

Early life and education

Stocki was born in 1979 in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. She studied at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

, where she received both a BSc (chemistry) and a BFA degree. She received a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

from Yale University in 2009.

Work

Although Stocki is known primarily for her photographs, her paintings have been exhibited in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Her photographs have been described as "little

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the past, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. It has been argued that there is a nostalgia cycle in popular culture. Definition The term ...

gems", that appeal to viewers' nostalgia, but can also have a raw, street photography quality. Stocki prints her images on silver gelatin, and tints them by hand. Her works' retro feel is produced by the processes by which she creates them, including film sprocket holes and layers cut and pasted by hand. The

street photography Street photography is photography conducted for art or inquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within Public space, public places. It usually has the aim of capturing images at a decisive or poignant moment by caref ...

quality of her work is often referenced to the "indecisive moment", a play of the term coined and made famous by photographer

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...

. Stocki has expressed disdain for the ironical photography of the 1990s often referred to as

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

. "I think the deadpan look of photographers like

Tina Barney Tina Barney (born October 27, 1945)Full text of "John L. Loeb Collection"
retrieved ...

doesn't reflect human experience. ... I take offense at work that is entirely divorced from human experience!" Stocki was awarded the international Tierney Fellowship in Photography for emerging artists in 2009, the same year as South African photographer Tracy Edser. Her work is in the permanent collections of the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

and the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

Selected works

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stocki, Elaine 1979 births Living people Artists from Winnipeg Canadian women painters Canadian women photographers Canadian people of Polish descent California State University, Fullerton faculty Feminist artists Yale University alumni