Eliza Finck: I Don't Know How But They Found Me

Artist Statement

These new paintings are about a break in reality. This is an exploration of my own experience and struggles with bipolar disorder, focusing dissociation and psychosis during extreme phases in mood. Each painting starts with a writing, hidden directly under the paint. This work is about a place on the edge of my consciousness where real isn’t quite real and fiction isn’t quite fiction. I visit there from time to time, but it’s not somewhere I choose to go--- a completely believable dream, one that I reference later as fact. I see things out of the corners of my eyes, until they are the center of my vision. Did I take my medicine today? There is someone walking parallel to me, but everytime I turn to look at them they’re gone. The sky lights up at night like a spotlight. The birds are targeting me, diving at me. Did you hear those people talking, their whispers? The lines between real and fake get blurry. This is a place where I can almost see the air, and the pharmacist asks me if I’m doing okay when I pick up my prescription. I count my edges over and over. When did I get so sharp? These paintings focus on a constant gamble on reality.

2021 VADS - People's Choice Voting

About the Project

Title of Work: I Don't Know How But They Found Me
Medium: Acrylic paintings
Student's Name: Eliza Finck
Major: Art
Anticipated Graduation Date: December 2021
Hometown: Mexico, Missouri
Student's Mentor: Anna Wehrwein
Mentor's Department: Fine Art- Painting
Art Project ID: 21VADS - 009

Comments

Lisa Scheese

Beautiful work. I appreciate the story and placing yourself (your experiences) as the centerpiece of your art.

Eliza Finck

Thank you!

Anya tukina

As someone with borderline personality disorder with manic episodes, this might be one of my favorite art pieces I've ever come across. I don't even know what to say. This is beautiful.

Eliza Finck

Thank you so much. I am glad that this resonated so personally with you! I think too often the conversation of mental health centers only around depression/anxiety, but in reality mental health is a much larger field.

miranda

to hear the story behind your art makes you an even more beautifully creative person in my eyes , this is so so awesome

Marcus Wilkins

I love the tapestry presentation of your work. It adds a timeless feel to the pieces that would be lost if they were streched. Well done.

Matt Ballou

Eliza, I love the determination and specificity with which you have been pursuing your art over the years. From the very first time I had you in class I sensed your serious, directed intelligence and self-awareness. I like how you're responding to your experience of the world and calibrating the work to address that experience. Good stuff.

Eliza Finck

Thank you, Matt. Great teachers make good artists, and I have certainly had my share of amazing teachers-- you included.

Lee Ann Garrison

Very nice paintings, Eliza, made all the more engaging by your video. It was important to hear your story, and also I saw even more in the paintings after watching your process that began with writing. Loved the video.

Eliza Finck

Thank you! Journaling has always been a helpful habit of mine, and I encourage everyone to write what they're thinking/feeling. It can lead to something you never expected (like a giant tryptich!).

Jim Spain

Wonderful paintings that are made even more powerful by your story. Thank you.

Kirk Jackson

Liza,I was completely blown away listening to your story and viewing the paintings that went along with it. Your honesty and openness will continue to move you and so many others foreward.I am so proud of you.