Anna Weyant
Detailed portraits twist painting traditions in an ode to adolescence.
“There’s fear, desperation, isolation, ignorance and sometimes aggression. Hopefully, there’s humour in places too.”
In Anna Weyant’s precisely rendered scenes, figures—most often young and female—find themselves embroiled in tragicomic narratives with an ironic twinge, offering a dreamlike insight into the capacity of popular culture and social convention to manufacture and distort gestures, rituals, and signifiers of femininity. But far from presenting her protagonists as merely symbolic, Weyant remains sensitive to their human idiosyncrasies and contradictions, picturing characters who are endearing, mysterious, and wholly themselves. Drawing on art historical and present-day influences, Weyant employs a...
In Anna Weyant’s precisely rendered scenes, figures—most often young and female—find themselves embroiled in tragicomic narratives with an ironic twinge, offering a dreamlike insight into the capacity of popular culture and social convention to manufacture and distort gestures, rituals, and signifiers of femininity. But far from presenting her protagonists as merely symbolic, Weyant remains sensitive to their human idiosyncrasies and contradictions, picturing characters who are endearing, mysterious, and wholly themselves. Drawing on art historical and present-day influences, Weyant employs a somber, muted palette of deep greens, dusty pinks, and deep black.
Weyant reflects on what she calls “the low-stakes trauma” of youth. In Loose Screw (2020), for example, a well-dressed woman drinks red wine at a bar. At first glance she appears put-together. But she’s alone and her hand is bandaged – suggesting she's uncomposed and isolated. These contradictions throughout Weyant’s practice embody young adulthood and all its melodrama. The paintings show characters who, like many of us, are still figuring things out.
Anna Weyant (she/her) was born in 1995 in Calgary, Canada, and now lives and works in New York.
Group exhibitions include HUMANMAKES, Recharge Foundation, Singapore (2020); and I will wear you in my heart of heart, Flag Art Foundation, New York (2021); Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (2022) and Women of Now, Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX (2022).
Weyant’s scenes often pass through multiple stages before she commits them to canvas. Tone and light are explored through deftly-rendered graphite sketches, while compositions are tested using stage-set dolls.
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