Arabella
Proffer
Arabella
Proffer is a Cleveland based painter and co-owner
of Elephant Stone Records. Her loose narrative themes
and interests revolve around a fascination with punk
fashion, aristocrats, Elizabethan portraiture, Ian
Schrager hotels, vapid socialites, eastern European
cultures and rock 'n' roll lifestyles. A native of
Ann Arbor, Michigan. she attended Art Center College
of Design in Pasadena before receiving a BFA from
California Institute of the Arts where she studied
art animation and film. She has participated in solo
and group exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa
Ana, Laguna Beach, Boston, Austin, Cleveland, London
and Moscow.
This series brings together Proffer's interests in decadence, rich paintings, and older cultures. Within those interests, she explores the particular roles that beauty, vanity, entitlement and virtue play in shaping aesthetic outcomes. Fashion, an outreach of beauty and vanity, figures in her work as a declaration of power and self-confidence, especially the styles of punk and other sub genres with their musical stance and anti-establishment tendencies. What was once considered counter-culture or unique is now so widely accepted that as an artist, the effect of these appearances superimposed on traditional ones has always been of interest.
Proffer's work is concerned with identity, and the ideas and representations of counter-culture and tradition. She wonders how the punk/gothic style might be adopted by aristocrats and social elites if it were part of their own decoration for serious portraits, ones that would be left as a reminder of their legacy. Traditionally, each portrait preserves what may later be a historical moment. In the case of this series however, the "historical" moments are of her own imagination. Between the peerage and costume research, Proffer likes to combine aristocractic traditions and names that sound Slavic, Latin, and Anglo in origin. And while they are all made up, it lends authenticity but in a surreal way.
Proffer is interested in ancient refinement, eccentricity and high culture -- all mingled with a curious fascination that draws in the viewer. Part of the experience for the viewer is to interact with these characters, imagine what they were like and maybe even recognize hints of themselves. |
