"I am interested in critiquing and unmasking pernicious factors within our society that are oppressive to women.  Classical beauty and the grotesque represent opposite ends of a spectrum – the classical characterized as impenetrable, self-contained, and clean, while the grotesque revels in all that is uninhibited, abject, and changing. When these two seemingly separate worlds intertwine, it undermines cultural attempts to contain our most human selves – for, after all, to be human is to be fluid. I investigate how the aesthetics of the grotesque and of the erotic can coexist by painting female subjects covered in frosting. Other male artists who work with similar subject matter often exploit the erotic for the male gaze – allowing their women to become spectacles and objects of sexual fantasy. However, I strive to subvert and deny these obvious connotations of this household material. Through the application of gluttonous quantities of frosting, the human form underneath disappears and new ones develop, creating alien and surprising qualities. The deep reds of sugary gels, the enteric swirls, and the melting skin of frosting, provide me the opportunity to question the differences between the consuming body and how the body (in particular, the female body) is consumed." - Marisa Adesman Born in Roslyn, NY, Adesman now works and teaches in St. Louis, MO at Webster University. She received her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis in 2013, graduating Magna Cum Laude. In 2018 she received her MFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. Adesman is a recent recipient of the Jentel Foundation Artist Residency (Banner, WY), PLOP Residency (London), Marble House Project Residency (VT), and the Wassaic Project Residency (NY). She has exhibited her work most recently at venues such as Elephant West (London), Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston), Mead Art Museum (Amherst, MA), RISD Museum Gelman Gallery, and Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (Asheville, NC). Adesman explores various ways in which the grotesque body conflicts with our visual glossary for beauty and health, as promulgated through pop culture and commercial media – especially by confronting experiences of consumption (of media, food, and even one's own image).