EXHIBITION | ELSA WAELDIN | SO SHE DREW WITH ALL HER MIGHT
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We are delighted to invite you to tour new exhibition, Elsa Waeldin's 'And So She Drew with All Her Might'.
The exhibition runs until Sunday 27 July 2025
➽ The exhibition
In a world in which billions of photos are taken each day, AI generates about 34 million images daily and there is an almost ubiquitous smartphone addiction, it can seem counter-intuitive to make art in a tried and true way. And yet this has been Elsa Waeldin’s path of creative discovery. Her manifesto could not be more emphatic: ‘Using a machine to generate something so inherently human as art feels dystopian’.
While her ideas and visual language are anything but conventional, Elsa explores the making of her art through drawing, painting and sculpture, age-old techniques that still have the power to provoke thought and emotion, at least in the right hands. Talent is not enough. She believes strongly in the value of gruelling hard work, of studying the output of other artists who inspire her, of overcoming frustration to reach a state of artistic clarity. In this way, she has developed a mature body of artistic work that is frankly remarkable in someone so young.
The relationship between preparatory studies and finished (self-)portraits offers an insight into Elsa’s working method. The disembodied images in the preliminary paintings Face Study I, Face Study II and Hand Study explore detailed elements such as the expressive energies of her broad, up-close brushstrokes and the contemplative gesture of the hands. The inclusion of the skulls and the skeletal form of the hands in Facing Death depicts a common motif in art, a kind of memento mori, a reminder of mortality and the transient nature of life. These studies then find a complete form in paintings like Engulfing, Bluebirds in Cupboards and Before the Fall and the mixed-media collage Looming. In each of these works, the motifs and stylistic elements first explored in the preparatory studies are fully realised. The palette of the paintings consists of muted browns, the colour of skin but also of the surroundings. In two of the major pieces, Elsa introduces a mirror – another well-known symbolic tool in art, reflecting not just physical appearances by also deeper meanings about perception, self-awareness and reality, or perhaps illusion.
The bright red splash of paint in Art Is Dead seems to be an ironic gesture¬, a single variant of Pollock’s famous drip paintings, asking whether this really does represent the end-point of visual expression. The repeated image of Intellectual, Natural, Sensual also has echoes of the famous images of another American artist – Warhol’s signature use of grids or rows – to explore themes of mass production, consumerism and the nature of modern identity.
Many of the works in So She Drew with All Her Might are self-representations, following the old artistic dictum, paint what or who you know. But in her explorations and at this early stage of her artistic journey, knowledge for Elsa Waeldin is never a settled thing and the artworks resist conclusion. All of them dramatise the act of understanding the strange world beyond her eyes and the equally strange world that exists within.
➽ The Artist
With a mixed Bidayuh–French family background, Elsa Waeldin is a Penang-based artist who is about to embark on full-time study in visual arts in Strasbourg, France. She has already created an impressive portfolio of work in different mediums, while demonstrating the potential to make her mark as an artist of the future.
Elsa showed an interest in creating images from an early age – constant doodling in the margins of notebooks, portraits of potato people with garden rakes for hands, step-by-step manuals to draw animals and explorations in manga. Those were the first exploratory steps. The online world of video games, vine compilations, animation memes and anime also provided a stimulus, and that’s what really drove her joy in making things with her hands. Surrounded by so many artists online further spurred her visual creativity and she began drawing like never before.
Not unnaturally, Elsa’s interests evolved over the years and so did her art – mining an eclectic range of inspirations. While many commentators point to the precocious talent of young creatives, a natural skill or ability, Elsa actually emphasises the role of will and determination, learning by observing the work of other artists, absorbing ideas and techniques that appeal, and developing her own visual style and artwork.
There is a tendency towards defiance, both in Elsa’s personality and her artwork. Her entry for an art competition at the age of twelve – a commentary on queer identity – was rejected for being too controversial. Another piece reflecting on male identity was also banned, and so she exhibited the disqualifying email in its place.
Beyond the boundaries of art, Elsa has developed a cultural hinterland that takes in music, fashion, the writing of Tove Jansson and Gaelle Geniller, and the provocations of the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Each of these inspirations finds its way into her drawings, paintings and sculptures, signalling the creativity of a singular young artist.
This is her first solo exhibition.
The artworks from the exhibition will be on sale.
Hikayat
226 Lebuh Pantai
George Town
10300 Penang
T: 04 261 9001 (Hikayat)
04 261 8001 (Gerakbudaya Bookshop @ Hikayat)
E: aW5mbyB8IGhpa2F5YXQgISBhc2lh
The exhibition runs until Sunday 27 July 2025
➽ The exhibition
In a world in which billions of photos are taken each day, AI generates about 34 million images daily and there is an almost ubiquitous smartphone addiction, it can seem counter-intuitive to make art in a tried and true way. And yet this has been Elsa Waeldin’s path of creative discovery. Her manifesto could not be more emphatic: ‘Using a machine to generate something so inherently human as art feels dystopian’.
While her ideas and visual language are anything but conventional, Elsa explores the making of her art through drawing, painting and sculpture, age-old techniques that still have the power to provoke thought and emotion, at least in the right hands. Talent is not enough. She believes strongly in the value of gruelling hard work, of studying the output of other artists who inspire her, of overcoming frustration to reach a state of artistic clarity. In this way, she has developed a mature body of artistic work that is frankly remarkable in someone so young.
The relationship between preparatory studies and finished (self-)portraits offers an insight into Elsa’s working method. The disembodied images in the preliminary paintings Face Study I, Face Study II and Hand Study explore detailed elements such as the expressive energies of her broad, up-close brushstrokes and the contemplative gesture of the hands. The inclusion of the skulls and the skeletal form of the hands in Facing Death depicts a common motif in art, a kind of memento mori, a reminder of mortality and the transient nature of life. These studies then find a complete form in paintings like Engulfing, Bluebirds in Cupboards and Before the Fall and the mixed-media collage Looming. In each of these works, the motifs and stylistic elements first explored in the preparatory studies are fully realised. The palette of the paintings consists of muted browns, the colour of skin but also of the surroundings. In two of the major pieces, Elsa introduces a mirror – another well-known symbolic tool in art, reflecting not just physical appearances by also deeper meanings about perception, self-awareness and reality, or perhaps illusion.
The bright red splash of paint in Art Is Dead seems to be an ironic gesture¬, a single variant of Pollock’s famous drip paintings, asking whether this really does represent the end-point of visual expression. The repeated image of Intellectual, Natural, Sensual also has echoes of the famous images of another American artist – Warhol’s signature use of grids or rows – to explore themes of mass production, consumerism and the nature of modern identity.
Many of the works in So She Drew with All Her Might are self-representations, following the old artistic dictum, paint what or who you know. But in her explorations and at this early stage of her artistic journey, knowledge for Elsa Waeldin is never a settled thing and the artworks resist conclusion. All of them dramatise the act of understanding the strange world beyond her eyes and the equally strange world that exists within.
➽ The Artist
With a mixed Bidayuh–French family background, Elsa Waeldin is a Penang-based artist who is about to embark on full-time study in visual arts in Strasbourg, France. She has already created an impressive portfolio of work in different mediums, while demonstrating the potential to make her mark as an artist of the future.
Elsa showed an interest in creating images from an early age – constant doodling in the margins of notebooks, portraits of potato people with garden rakes for hands, step-by-step manuals to draw animals and explorations in manga. Those were the first exploratory steps. The online world of video games, vine compilations, animation memes and anime also provided a stimulus, and that’s what really drove her joy in making things with her hands. Surrounded by so many artists online further spurred her visual creativity and she began drawing like never before.
Not unnaturally, Elsa’s interests evolved over the years and so did her art – mining an eclectic range of inspirations. While many commentators point to the precocious talent of young creatives, a natural skill or ability, Elsa actually emphasises the role of will and determination, learning by observing the work of other artists, absorbing ideas and techniques that appeal, and developing her own visual style and artwork.
There is a tendency towards defiance, both in Elsa’s personality and her artwork. Her entry for an art competition at the age of twelve – a commentary on queer identity – was rejected for being too controversial. Another piece reflecting on male identity was also banned, and so she exhibited the disqualifying email in its place.
Beyond the boundaries of art, Elsa has developed a cultural hinterland that takes in music, fashion, the writing of Tove Jansson and Gaelle Geniller, and the provocations of the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Each of these inspirations finds its way into her drawings, paintings and sculptures, signalling the creativity of a singular young artist.
This is her first solo exhibition.
The artworks from the exhibition will be on sale.
Hikayat
226 Lebuh Pantai
George Town
10300 Penang
T: 04 261 9001 (Hikayat)
04 261 8001 (Gerakbudaya Bookshop @ Hikayat)
E: aW5mbyB8IGhpa2F5YXQgISBhc2lh
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