Sometimes, Painting Is The Best Revenge
Allison Anderson
I am inspired by women who have blazed their own path for good or bad. Women who have refused to shut up at the mercy of powerful men. I paint women who ultimately embrace being called a “FUCKING BITCH.” Women like Monica Lewinsky, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Stormy Daniels who define their own unique version of feminism by “flipping the script.” Women who are considered to be “monsters” and “snakes.” To color in their portraits and animations is another way of painting myself as strong as them. It is as if I were transported back to the 90’s coloring at my grandparents coffee table while watching OJ Simpson driving his white Bronco down the 91 freeway from the cops.
Painting Harvey Weinstein and Bill Clinton is another way of identifying traits of predatory behavior. It allows me to paint the predator who prayed on me without having to paint his actual face. The prevalent use of hot pink represents me RECLAIMING my dark past by representing current movements like Me Too with this color. The bringing together of politics, abstraction and the unconscious allows viewers to think about these ideas in complex ways; the personal is political. Painting is another way to tell my story and to take justice back on my own terms.
![Title Wall, “Sometimes Painting Is The Best Revenge”, 2021, silk ribbon and gelatin, 9’ 7”x 12’; Self Portrait, 12’’x9’’, oil on canvas. Photo credit: Neighboring States.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/06424efe-58e6-4216-b2e2-9e0bf0173d84/Anderson_8.jpg)
Title Wall, “Sometimes Painting Is The Best Revenge”, 2021, silk ribbon and gelatin, 9’ 7”x 12’; Self Portrait, 12’’x9’’, oil on canvas. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
![Collage Wall #1, 2021, acrylic on paper; gouache and acrylic on paper; oil, acrylic and glitter on canvas; and ink on duralar; 9’ 7’’x11’ 6’’. Photo credit: Neighboring States.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/2cc07576-62b4-4c62-ba69-e74e696d005d/Anderson_7.jpg)
Collage Wall #1, 2021, acrylic on paper; gouache and acrylic on paper; oil, acrylic and glitter on canvas; and ink on duralar; 9’ 7’’x11’ 6’’. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
![Collage Wall #2, 2021, acrylic on paper; oil and acrylic on canvas; silk ribbon and gelatin; acrylic and glitter on canvas. 168’’x 366’’. Photo credit: Neighboring States.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/69a731b3-758a-470e-a52e-06af03a27989/Anderson_5.jpg)
Collage Wall #2, 2021, acrylic on paper; oil and acrylic on canvas; silk ribbon and gelatin; acrylic and glitter on canvas. 168’’x 366’’. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
![“Dr. Ford,” 2020, oil on canvas, 140’’x 94’’; “Judith Slaying Holofernes,” 2021, acrylic and oil on canvas, 120’’ x 92’’. Photo credit: Neighboring States.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/1466c4d0-0c91-4491-a5f3-8d01a1fd9f98/Anderson_4.jpg)
“Dr. Ford,” 2020, oil on canvas, 140’’x 94’’; “Judith Slaying Holofernes,” 2021, acrylic and oil on canvas, 120’’ x 92’’. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
![“Judith Slaying Holofernes,” 2021, acrylic and oil on canvas, 120’’x 92’’. Photo credit: Neighboring States.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/8c106588-2fdd-49b3-a097-1ab694a84ca2/Anderson_3.jpg)
“Judith Slaying Holofernes,” 2021, acrylic and oil on canvas, 120’’x 92’’. Photo credit: Neighboring States.
![“Joan Crawford,” 2021, marker, acrylic and oil on canvas. 120’’x92’’ Photo credit: Neighboring States.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/14aed7f9-57cd-4cfc-9467-7901162f62b0/Anderson_1.jpg)
“Joan Crawford,” 2021, marker, acrylic and oil on canvas. 120’’x92’’ Photo credit: Neighboring States.
Allison Anderson
TYL Drawing and Painting, ‘21
IG: @alliandersone
Website: alliandersonstudio.com
Allison Anderson is an artist from Anaheim, California who earned her BFA from California State University, Long Beach in 2014 and earned her MFA from Tyler School of Art in 2021. "I don't mean to be a traitor to my millennial generation and all, but whoever said low rise or skinny jeans were in style, was seriously disturbed." - Allison Anderson