Ashley Pelletier (b. 1993) is a painter living and working in the Boston and Providence areas. Her work is about play, humor, and the formal issues specific to oil painting. Ashley received her MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and her BFA from Rhode Island College. Her work has been exhibited at the Bristol Art Museum (Bristol, RI), Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston, MA), Rhode Island College (Providence, RI), and other galleries throughout the Northeast. She is a 2024 recipient of a ‘Make Art Grant’ from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Ashley currently teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Brandeis University, and the Community College of Rhode Island.

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Statement

I make colorful, abstract oil paintings that contain awkward and quirky shapes interacting in various ways. The paintings range in size from up to five, or six feet tall, to as small as 8x10 inches.

I am interested in questioning and conforming to traditional conventions of Painting. Contradictions such as space vs. flatness, figure vs. ground, sense vs. nonsense, and material vs. illusion guide my explorations and define the magical reality that painting uniquely embodies. In Painting, I seek an alternate truth that allows for multiple realities, or paradoxes, to exist at once.

My creative process prioritizes a call and response approach. I problem solve through trial and error in order to create the possibility of unanticipated and surprising formal relationships. Dynamics of color, shape, texture, and form are meant to express joy, humor, and lightheartedness. Imagery and meaning are combined with a tactile sensitivity to paint as a material, evident in the densely layered surfaces that convey both physical and emotional presence.