South West artist Elisha McGuckin drives to create joyous works that spark nostalgia and connectivity.
Her striking acrylic paintings are influenced by her childhood, born in the 80's, she has a strong connection to colour and pop culture. Specialising in acrylics, Elisha has developed her signature style that combines both pop art design with more traditional, intuitive ways of painting. Having acquired brush techniques passed on from her grandfather, she finds herself in a meditative state, in a place of belonging when applying paint to any surface. The outcome, iconic objects brought to life by in bright glossy paintings.
Elisha has been a practising artist for many years now but made the decision to pursue a career in the arts in 2016. This decision arrived simultaneously with the " lets start a family" decision, Elisha has worked with discipline through, tears, exhaustion and joy during the first 7 years of motherhood.
This major life transition has played an enormous role in influencing Elisha's subject matter, when her first born was just 3 Elisha held her first solo exhibition "Argh! What A Mess" at the Collie Art Gallery. Examining, juts that, her own personal journey. A collection of interior scenes and vibrant still life paintings journaling mess from around the home accompanied by lots of paintings of coffee cups and chip packets.
Her paintings capture all things domestic, messy fridges and washing machines all the way to sweet treats, bandaids and measuring tapes. Elisha works in her signature style to create pop inspired still life paintings . No subject is to dull! As she moves into her nostalgic faze in 2024, the addition of mixtapes, old tvs and other 'retro' inspired works have been introduced.
Elisha believes art is a journey and as such her work evolves alongside the path of her life.
After the success of her first show, Elisha moved straight into preparation for her next show "All consumed", held at Contemporary Art Spaces Mandurah. This most recent exhibition allowed Elisha to extend on her pop art inspired pieces, painting more bottles and pantry staples. Extending into landscapes and shop fronts all the way to the household tv showing her favourite music show "rage", she demonstrates she is not restricted to just still life paintings.
A group show to follow later in 2023.
Moving into 2024 successfully licensing her work to be reproduced for local governments, exhibitions and another solo exhibition.
Her work continues to evolve as she works towards her next body of work for her fourth solo show in 2025.