Background
Alisa Iris is a Montreal-based Artist. She explores themes of masquerade, identity, doubling, infinity and accumulation. Her art practice ranges from 2D works to installation, soundscapes, video and creative writing. Claude Cahun, Francesca Woodman, Yayoi Kusama and Maya Deren are the central figures of inspiration and influence for the imagery and personal narrative behind the work. Djuna Barnes' novel, Nightwood, is also a major influence as the painted figures in much of the artwork are derived from characters in this novel and named after many of them.
Iris holds a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University. Currently, Iris is completing a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology at McGill University. She appreciates the intersection of art, therapy & education and pursues the point where these practices meet.
Alisa Iris is a Montreal-based Artist. She explores themes of masquerade, identity, doubling, infinity and accumulation. Her art practice ranges from 2D works to installation, soundscapes, video and creative writing. Claude Cahun, Francesca Woodman, Yayoi Kusama and Maya Deren are the central figures of inspiration and influence for the imagery and personal narrative behind the work. Djuna Barnes' novel, Nightwood, is also a major influence as the painted figures in much of the artwork are derived from characters in this novel and named after many of them.
Iris holds a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University. Currently, Iris is completing a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology at McGill University. She appreciates the intersection of art, therapy & education and pursues the point where these practices meet.
Art Exhibits
2010 Hang One : Group Show, The Dep[art]ment (Old Montreal)
Displayed a Triptych entitled Exhumed Absence
2009 One Night er: Three Artists, Whippersnapper Gallery (Toronto)
Exhibited new collection of paintings on raw canvas
2009 Remove Everything, Whippersnapper Gallery (Toronto)
Exhibited installation piece (video, soundscape and painting)
2009 Bow Down – Artefacto Gallery, Art Matters Festival (Montreal)
Exhibited paintings and video art
2009 Ark Inc. Soundscape, Nuit Blanche Souterrain Festival (Montreal)
Produced Soundscape for Ark Inc.,installation by Joshua Barndt
2008 Death of an Elephant Soundscape, Whippersnapper Gallery (Toronto)
Produced Soundscape for Death of an Elephant, installation by Joshua Barndt
2007 Portraits, Gallery Post-Meridian (Montreal)
Organized Vernissage, designed promotional material and displayed art
2006 Paintings, John Company Tea House (Montreal)
2006 Honduras Portraits, Newtown -Just World Organization Event (Montreal)
2010 Hang One : Group Show, The Dep[art]ment (Old Montreal)
Displayed a Triptych entitled Exhumed Absence
2009 One Night er: Three Artists, Whippersnapper Gallery (Toronto)
Exhibited new collection of paintings on raw canvas
2009 Remove Everything, Whippersnapper Gallery (Toronto)
Exhibited installation piece (video, soundscape and painting)
2009 Bow Down – Artefacto Gallery, Art Matters Festival (Montreal)
Exhibited paintings and video art
2009 Ark Inc. Soundscape, Nuit Blanche Souterrain Festival (Montreal)
Produced Soundscape for Ark Inc.,installation by Joshua Barndt
2008 Death of an Elephant Soundscape, Whippersnapper Gallery (Toronto)
Produced Soundscape for Death of an Elephant, installation by Joshua Barndt
2007 Portraits, Gallery Post-Meridian (Montreal)
Organized Vernissage, designed promotional material and displayed art
2006 Paintings, John Company Tea House (Montreal)
2006 Honduras Portraits, Newtown -Just World Organization Event (Montreal)
Influences: Photography
"There is too much of everything. I keep silent. I hold my breath. I curl up in a ball, I give up my boundaries, I fold myself towards an imaginary centre. I have my head shaved, my teeth pulled and my breasts cut off - everything that bothers my gaze or slows down - my stomach, my ovaries, the conscious and encysted brain. When I have but one card left in my hand, only the beating of my heart to note to perfection, surely I will have won." - Claude Cahun
Influences: Collage
Influences: Painting
Influences: Literature
“Her trade– the trapeze – seemed to have preserved her. [...] Something of the bar was in her wrists, the tan bark in her walk, as if the air, by its very lightness, by its very non-resistance, were an almost insurmountable problem, making her body, though slight and compact, seem much heavier than that of women who stay upon the ground. [...] She seemed to have a skin that was the pattern of her costume: a bodice of lozenges, red and yellow [...] – one somehow felt they ran through her as the design runs through hard holiday candies, and the bulge in the groin where she took the bar, one foot caught in the flex of the calf, was as solid, specialized and polished as oak. The stuff of the tights was no longer a covering, it was herself; the span of the tightly stitched crotch was so much her own flesh that she was as unsexed as a doll. The needle that had made one property of the child made the other the property of no man.”
- Djune Barnes, Nightwood