Saturday in the Park: In Conversation With Artist Elise Mendelle
By Nina Paiva
Elise Mendelle (Artist)
Photograph taken by Nina Paiva
After a hello hug and a quick stop to grab a coffee, Elise and I made our way to Whetstone Stray. Walking over the park’s uneven ground, we started chatting. Canadian born and London based, artist Elise Mendelle takes me on a walk around the park that was once her calm escape during the restrictive moments of lockdown.
With towering trees shrouding the winding paths that follow the river in a loose manner, it’s clear to me why this park was her chosen spot to find air and relief during those months when we all shared and yearned for a simple, common need for escape.
The sound of a hundred grasshoppers and the trickle of sunlight through the trees makes me smile. Elise chuckles at me when I tell her that I don’t often get a quiet escape like this whilst living and working in South London. The route that we take is one she has walked countless times. As we sip our coffee and wander slowly through the greenery, I take a photo of a single woman sitting on a bench, situated on intersecting path-ways.
Photograph by Nina Paiva
This image of the woman sitting on this bench reminds immediately of the sharp lines and symmetry of Elise's print series Social Distancing.
Social Distancing was born out of a challenge given by the art school Elise attends as a way to keep up creative momentum during lockdown:
“Capture the current moment and produce a piece of art that was reminiscent of any experience that they were having at the
time. ”
Elise’s response to this prompt was through Isolating - the first painting in her present series. Differing from her usual style of fleeting brush strokes and soft edges, Social Distancing sees Elise adopting a new form and style.
Switching up her process from working on an easel to the floor, Elise replaces smooth curves with controlled lines, bright interweaving colours, and solid block-like forms and shapes. This shift in style was indicative of Elise’s mindset:
“It was a direct response to the pandemic and that feeling of being almost trapped. ”
While her previous work emitted a sense of freedom through its expressiveness, loose style, and quality, Social Distancing carries a sense of confinement and restriction. Bound in straight lines, perfect geometry, and hard-edged structures - for Elise - this style plays with the feeling of “not being free and not being able to do the things that we want to do and sort of being confined by our environment”.
While we look back on those months of confinement during lockdown, where places like Whetstone Stray were a much needed escape from the restrictive and lonely feelings of lockdown, Social Distancing speaks to more positive feelings.
Elise Mendelle (Artist)
Photograph taken by Nina Paiva
Although Elise’s series depicts solitary figures, the pictures do not suggest loneliness. Elise translates the softness of her pre-pandemic works to capture the overall tone of the series.
Social Distancing evokes the collectiveness of this specific time period in our world and our history: how we - as a society - shifted and adapted together [to change our collective mindset and to incite a more positive change for our future].
As Elise and I walk, we don’t just speak about work. I discovered her favourite wine is white (provoked mostly by her allergy to red wine). One of her favourite books is A Secret History by author Donna Tartt, which is coincidentally on my own must-read list. And, much like myself, she understands the desperation of finishing one book before you have even bought the next, resulting in downloading a PDF of your next read, so there’s no waiting time.
Our park walk reaches an end and we take a turn to a small, single-file path which sits between two plots of private allotments. At the top of this hill, I’m told it is the best view of the sunset in London - but it’s midday so I’ll have to take Elise’s word for it!
Social Distancing Series (Originals)
Photograph provided by Elise Mendelle
Finally, I was able to see the original paintings from Social Distancing in person (positioned in between the family cockapoo in the midst of stealing Elise’s sandals). From observing these pieces, Elise has frozen a moment in time and captured a collective memory relatable to many (if not all) who were once confined to their homes for a wearied, lengthy few years.
One of Elise’s prints now hangs on the walls where I spent my lockdown days, reminding me of not only the dramatic change we all underwent, but also of the resulting memories I created inside that space.
Thinking (2021)
A1
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm paper
Available via AWS Gallery
When looking at Elise’s Distancing series (in our gallery), I urge you: take a step forward, and look at each of the figures depicted and frozen in these delicate scenes.
After taking a long pause, you’ll begin to observe and appreciate these different, unique, charming characters: people looking at their phones, people using push buggies, people wearing sport hats, masks (of course!), people carrying plastic bags or backpacks, people wearing ponytails. Similar to the real world, these characters have different experiences and stories to share - no two stories are the same. The bright colours shown in each of these images bring out a much-needed sense of joy to lift us out of our previous two-to-three-year dark period.
View Elise’s work via her artist page: link here (and soon the NFT Platform Voice HQ)
