Elsa Dax (born 14 May 1972) is a French

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

and a member of the

Stuckists Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...

, . Major themes in her work are myth, legend and fairytale.Buckman, David (2006), ''Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945'', p. 392, Art Dictionaries, Bristol, 2006,

Life and career

Elsa Dax was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, and educated at the Sorbonne where she gained an MA in cinema, Russian art studies, Constructivism and

Suprematism Suprematism (russian: Супремати́зм) is an early twentieth-century art movement focused on the fundamentals of geometry (circles, squares, rectangles), painted in a limited range of colors. The term ''suprematism'' refers to an abstra ...

. In 1994, she worked as a production assistant for the film '' Beyond the Clouds'', directed by

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

. In 1995 she was a librarian in the Pompidou Centre. In 1996 she was a television production assistant at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...

for the film ''Whistler, an American in Paris'', directed by Edwige Kertes. In 1997, she was a production cinema assistant at the Ciné Lumière,

French Institute The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute ...

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, London, and the following year a television encoder and editor for Xtreme Information Ltd. From 1997 to 1998, she rented a 3 sq metre room in a convent, containing just a bed, a small cupboard and a tap. She spent her time there painting, "and I was very happy". In 1999, she worked as an editor at the Cannes Advertisement Festival. 2000 Stuckist Turner demo (1)

In 2000, she joined the Stuckists, the anti-

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called ins ...

movement co-founded by

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...

and

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...

. She first exhibited with them in their ''The Real Turner Prize Show'' at the Pure Gallery,

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an imp ...

, London, in that year, and participated in their first demonstration outside

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

against the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...

. She also took part in other demonstrations in subsequent years, and has participated in may international Stuckist shows. 20011019ParisCrop

In 2001 she founded the Paris Stuckists and organised the ''Stuckist Vernissage'' (Stuckist Paintings) the first Paris show of the Stuckists at the Musee d'Adzak: this included the artist Stella Vine (later made famous by

Charles Saatchi Charles Saatchi (; ar, تشارلز ساعتجي; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest ...

), who at that time was a member of the Stuckist group. In 2004, she was one of the fourteen "founder and featured" artists in '' The Stuckists Punk Victorian'' held at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

for the

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

."The Stuckists Punk Victorian"

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...

. Retrieved 6 April 2008. She promoted the second Paris Stuckist show in 2005. In 2005, she illustrated a children's book. In 2006, the Tarot Museum in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

acquired a

Tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots ...

deck, which she had designed in 1999. Dax was one of the ten "leading Stuckists""Go West"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

''. Retrieved 29 March 2008. in the Go West exhibition at Spectrum London gallery in October 2006. In 2008, she was the first signatory a petition to the prime minister asking him not to approve Sir

Nicholas Serota Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota, (born 27 April 1946) is an English art historian and curator, who served as the Director of the Tate from 1988 to 2017. He is currently Chair of Arts Council England, a role which he has held since February 2017. ...

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

director."Stuckism: Elsa Dax"
Stuckism International site. Retrieved 3 September 2008. She spends her time divided between Camden in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

."'Venus and Mars', Elsa Dax"

. Retrieved 3 September 2008. She is now a full-time artist. As well as painting her own work, she is also a collector of other Stuckist paintings by

Ella Guru Ella Guru (born May 24, 1966) is an American painter and musician living in Hastings, East Sussex, England. She was a member of Mambo Taxi and the Voodoo Queens. In 1999, she became one of the founding members of the Stuckist art movement. E ...

, Bill Lewis,

Philip Absolon Philip Absolon (born 24 November 1960) is a British artist and a founder member of the Stuckists art group,Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 50, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson's essay, "A ...

, Rémy Noë and Ruth Stein. She is married to John Kerr, an architect.

Art

Dax said that she chose her themes of myths, legends and fairytales as "I find reality terribly sad and cruel. I need to escape to another dimension," and that her style has been likened to

Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

's. A large body of her paintings are of

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

, composing a mass of figurative detail. She respects the force of nature. Research for a painting is a combination of academic books on the subject and infant picture books, which leads to a few weeks' mental preparation for the main elements. The first part of the painting is the central character, around which other images evolve in an imaginative process to "discover images like you might discover figures in a cloud." It takes her three months to complete the painting. She has said of her work:

Solo shows

*2002, Westminster Gym,

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

, London *2002, Lourdes Museum, Pau, France

Gallery

Image:Elsa Dax. Argus.jpg, ''Argus'' Image:Elsa Dax. Bacchus.jpg, ''Bacchus'' Image:Elsa Dax. Hades.jpg, ''Hades'' Image:Elsa Dax. Hermaphrodite.jpg, ''Hermaphrodite'' Image:Elsa Dax. Poseidon.jpg, ''Poseidon'' Image:Elsa Dax. Rhea and Chronos.jpg, ''Rhea and Chronos'' Image:2003 Stuckists Summer Show (4).jpg, Work in the

Stuckism International Gallery The Stuckism International Gallery was the gallery of the Stuckist art movement. It was open from 2002 to 2005 in Shoreditch, and was run by Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism. It was launched by a procession carrying a coffin marked " ...

, 2003 (group of 6 behind the bed) Image:The Stuckists Punk Victorian 4.jpg, Work in '' The Stuckists Punk Victorian'',

, 2004 (right side of wall)

Notes and references

External links

Gallery of Elsa Dax myth paintingsOld gallery of Elsa Dax myth paintingsJohn Kerr Associates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dax, Elsa 1972 births Living people 20th-century French painters 21st-century French painters Stuckism University of Paris alumni