Elizabeth Dlugosz

"A Day in the Life"

My informal portrait collection depicts various moments of life and time passing while in quarantine. These often mundane, repetitive and daily activities feel very relatable as a figure is trapped inside their personal interior. I am exploring the concept of what we do when there is nothing else to do and how the psychological effects of Covid-19 are present. My subjects are my family members existing and occupying space through moments of forced leisure. Cropped within a painted world, the moments I have chosen to depict are often displacement activities within spaces I am most familiar where I witnessed my family spending the most time as they face an internal conflict- are they immobilized from stress or enjoying their time lounging in captivity? These are glimpses into what my family’s everyday life has been like within our own world through moments that symbolize the passing of time through contemporary realism.

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Elizabeth Dlugosz

Regrowth, 2020, 36x36in

Coping, 2019, 16x20in

Thirst, Oil, 2020, 48x48in

Haircut, Mixed Medium Collage, 2018, 16x20in

Painting has always been a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings about various topics. Our society today is striving to become more enlightened and accepting of differences as we continue to break gender stereotypes, rewrite old-world definitions about what is proper, and reduce our environmental impact. Representations of female stereotypes are being released and set free as the subject receives an empowering “Haircut”. “Thirst” expands on this theme of female empowerment as it challenges long-held beauty standards by depicting a voluptuous plus-sized woman as a mythological creature that many women say they wish they could look like, even though it does not exist and is unattainable; juxtaposed with a warm environment and lack of water, this mermaid appears to be longing for something she can’t have. “Coping” is a portrait of a subject partaking in a stigmatized form of stress relief as he finds a temporary escape from his problems. Lastly, “Regrowth” depicts a plant struggling to survive in a dark environment which relates to environmental catastrophes like pollution, forest fires, and deforestation where life always finds a way to emerge.