Ester Pugliese is a Toronto-based artist. She graduated from York University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Specialized Honours) in Visual Arts Studio. She spent a year studying abroad in Leeds, UK and has exhibited extensively in Toronto, Brantford and Leeds. Pugliese has been the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, and her work can be found in private and public collections in North America and Europe, including the Donovan Collection at the University of Toronto.
Statement
Disparate images and ideas swirl through Ester Pugliese's densely layered paintings. Sweeping gestural brushstrokes intermingle with organic life forms, conjuring earthly gardens, romantic floral arrangements or aquatic forests. Half-formed silhouettes and shapes appear submerged in solution or suspended in expansive space. The opaque, fragmented, yet languid forms that float at the surface of the picture plane solidify the sense of looking through a depth of space, and create a dialogue between the surface and the underlying pictorial space. Opacity and luminosity, conscious and unconscious, appearance and private self are concerns of the artist. In overlaying disparate elements, the artist aims to use imagery to work through personal and artistic questions and concerns.
