EBONY PATTERSON
Assistant Professor of PaintingRB 215
Phone: 859.257.6055
Education: M.F.A. Washington University in St. Louis
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
(click images to view)
Self, metaphor and the body are pertinent interests in my work I seek to reference a beauty that is inherent in objectification while making specific references to the female body. For decades Feminists have sought to critique the representation of women within ‘visual culture’, through exploring notions of body and the feminine. They have challenged the so-called ‘male gaze’, perpetuated by white males within a patriarchal world as a reason for induced objectification of women. The feminist of the 1970s therefore sought to use female imagery as a means to empower and to validate the value and position of women within society.
While I empathize with the position taken by 1970s feminists, my interests in objectification articulate a different assessment. I seek to claim objectification as a position that may be asserted by the ‘female gaze’, while making clear references to the female body as objects. My explorations are excavations and observations that feed my own concerns with my own objectification. I find great appeal in decomposition, disease, female scatology, Jamaican obscenities, and environments that induce bodily objectification.
Born a native of Kingston, Jamaica in 1981, Ebony Patterson graduated from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in 2004, where she received an Honors Diploma in Painting and from Sam Fox College of Art and Design at the Washington University in St. Louis in 2006, with a Masters in Fine Arts in Printmaking and Drawing.
She has participated in several group exhibitions in Jamaica and abroad since 2001; this includes: ‘Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art’, Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY) Woolworth Windows, Tacoma Contemporary (Tacoma, WA) 2007, Intimate Matter, (two person exhibit University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia) 2006, Redhead Experimental Exhibit: A History of Women’s Art, (New York, NY) 2006, ‘Young Generations 2005 and 2006’ (Mutual Gallery), ‘Super Plus Under 40 Artist of the Year 2005’, ‘Saakhi: A Multi Ethnic look at Women’s Health and Bodies’ 2005 (St. Louis, Missouri), ‘CIAC Summer Exhibit 2005’ (Pont Aven, France), ‘Curator’s Eye II : Identity : Personal and Social Narratives (Kingston, Jamaica), 2005, ‘Jamaica Biennial 2004 + 2006’ (National Gallery), Royal Overseas League Travel Scholars 2002 Exhibition’ (Hosted in 2003 London and 2004 Edinburgh at The ROSL).
Patterson has staged three solo exhibits: ‘Dialysis’ (2005) at the University of Montana, UC Gallery (Missoula, Montana) and ‘Case Studies: Venus, Cuts and Aprons’ at the Mutual Gallery (Kingston, Jamaica), ‘Specimen’ (2006) University City Library (St. Louis Missouri). She will have her fourth, ‘Hybrids’ (2007) at the Seeline Gallery in (Santa Monica, California).
She is the recipient of several awards and scholarships both abroad and in her home country. Her works are apart several private and public collections.