View source for Elsa Dax

{{Short description|French painter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Elsa Dax
| image         = Photo of Elsa Dax by Charles Thomson.jpg
| image_size    = 180 px
| caption       =
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1972|05|14}}
| birth_place   = Paris, France
| death_date    =
| death_place   =
| nationality   = French
| known_for     = Painting
| training      = [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]
| movement      = [[Stuckism]]
| notable_works = ''Venus and Mars''
| patrons       =
| awards        = 
}}

'''Elsa Dax''' (born 14 May 1972) is a French [[Painting|painter]] and a member of the [[Stuckism|Stuckists]] art movement.<ref name=milner>Milner, Frank ed. (2004), ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 58, [[National Museums Liverpool]], {{ISBN|1-902700-27-9}}.</ref> Major themes in her work are myth, legend and fairytale.<ref name=buckman>Buckman, David (2006), ''Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945'', p. 392, Art Dictionaries, Bristol, 2006, {{ISBN|0-9532609-5-X}}</ref>

==Life and career==

Elsa Dax was born in [[Paris]], and educated at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] where she gained an MA in cinema, Russian art studies, [[Constructivism (art)|Constructivism]] and [[Suprematism]].<ref name=buckman/> In 1994, she worked as a production assistant for the film ''[[Beyond the Clouds (1995 film)|Beyond the Clouds]]'', directed by [[Michelangelo Antonioni]]. In 1995 she was a librarian in the [[Pompidou Centre]]. In 1996 she was a television production assistant at the [[Musée d'Orsay]] for the film ''Whistler, an American in Paris'', directed by Edwige Kertes.<ref name=buckman/>

In 1997, she was a production cinema assistant at the Ciné Lumière, [[French Institute]], [[South Kensington]], London, and the following year a television encoder and editor for Xtreme Information Ltd.<ref name=buckman/> From 1997 to 1998, she rented a 3 sq metre room in a convent, containing just a bed, a small cupboard and a tap. She spent her time there painting, "and I was very happy". In 1999, she worked as an editor at the [[Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival|Cannes Advertisement Festival]].<ref name=buckman/>

[[File:2000 Stuckist Turner demo (1).jpg|thumb|left|Elsa Dax (foreground, second from left) at the first [[Stuckist demonstrations|Stuckist demonstration]] against the [[Turner Prize]] outside [[Tate Britain]] in 2000]]
In 2000, she joined the Stuckists, the anti-[[conceptual art]] movement co-founded by [[Billy Childish]] and [[Charles Thomson (artist)|Charles Thomson]]. She first exhibited with them in their ''The Real Turner Prize Show'' at the Pure Gallery, [[Shoreditch]], London, in that year,<ref name=milner/> and participated in their first demonstration outside [[Tate Britain]] against the [[Turner Prize]]. She also took part in other demonstrations in subsequent years, and has participated in may international Stuckist shows.<ref name=buckman/>

[[File:20011019ParisCrop.jpg|thumb|upright|''The First Stuckist Show in Paris'' curated by Elsa Dax. Work by [[Wolf Howard]].]]

In 2001 she founded the Paris Stuckists and organised the ''Stuckist Vernissage'' (Stuckist Paintings) the first Paris show of the Stuckists at the Musee d'Adzak:<ref name=milner/> this included the artist [[Stella Vine]] (later made famous by [[Charles Saatchi]]), who at that time was a member of the Stuckist group. In 2004, she was one of the fourteen "founder and featured" artists in ''[[The Stuckists Punk Victorian]]'' held at the [[Walker Art Gallery]] for the [[Liverpool Biennial]].<ref name=walkerpunk>[http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/stuckists/ "The Stuckists Punk Victorian"], [[Walker Art Gallery]], [[National Museums Liverpool]]. Retrieved 6 April 2008.</ref> She promoted the second Paris Stuckist show in 2005.

In 2005, she illustrated a children's book. In 2006, the [[Tarot Museum]] in [[Bologna]] acquired a [[Tarot]] deck, which she had designed in 1999.

Dax was one of the ten "leading Stuckists"<ref>[https://archive.today/20120911141354/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Slideshow/slideshowContentFrameFragXL.jhtml?xml=/arts/slideshows/gowest/pixgowest.xml&site= "Go West"], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''. Retrieved 29 March 2008.</ref> in the [[Go West (exhibition)|Go West]] exhibition at [[Spectrum London]] gallery in October 2006.

In 2008, she was the first signatory a petition to the prime minister asking him not to approve Sir [[Nicholas Serota]] as [[Tate]] director.<ref name=stuckdax>[http://www.stuckism.com/Dax/index.html "Stuckism: Elsa Dax"], [[Stuckism|Stuckism International]] site. Retrieved 3 September 2008.</ref>

She spends her time divided between [[Camden Town|Camden]] in [[London]] and [[Paris]].<ref name=walkerdax>[http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/stuckists/elsadax.aspx "'Venus and Mars', Elsa Dax"], [[Walker Art Gallery]], [[National Museums Liverpool]]. Retrieved 3 September 2008.</ref> She is now a full-time artist. As well as painting her own work, she is also a collector of other Stuckist paintings by [[Ella Guru]], [[Charles Thomson (artist)|Charles Thomson]], [[Bill Lewis]], [[Philip Absolon]], [[Rémy Noë]] and [[Ruth Stein]].

She is married to John Kerr, an architect.<ref name=walkerdax/>

==Art==
[[File:Elsa Dax. Venus and Mars.jpg|thumb|alt=Venus and Mars|Elsa Dax. ''Venus and Mars'']]
Dax said that she chose her themes of myths, legends and fairytales as "I find reality terribly sad and cruel. I need to escape to another dimension," and that her style has been likened to [[Chagall]]'s.<ref name=buckman/> A large body of her paintings are of [[Greek mythology]], composing a mass of figurative detail. She respects the force of nature.

Research for a painting is a combination of academic books on the subject and infant picture books, which leads to a few weeks' mental preparation for the main elements.<ref name=stuckdax/> The first part of the painting is the central character, around which other images evolve in an imaginative process to "discover images like you might discover figures in a cloud."<ref name=stuckdax/> It takes her three months to complete the painting.

She has said of her work:
{{cquote|My aim is to paint all the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. I've been working on this series for eight years; it will probably take me another eight years to complete. I try to penetrate with my imagination into the essence of the god or goddess. After painting them I feel as if I'm protected by these deities on a spiritual level. When I painted Venus I felt quite happy and relaxed; Mars made me feel like Churchill – the warrior, the struggle. Venus and Mars don't appear to be intimate, but there is a subtle sexual union. His penis is about to enter her vagina.<ref name=stuckdax/>}}
<!-- NOTE TO EDITORS: quote released under GFDL. See talk page-->

==Solo shows==

*2002, Westminster Gym, [[Houses of Parliament]], London<ref name=buckman/>
*2002, [[Lourdes Museum]], Pau, France<ref name=buckman/>

==Gallery==

<gallery>
Image:Elsa Dax. Argus.jpg|''Argus''
Image:Elsa Dax. Bacchus.jpg|''Bacchus''
Image:Elsa Dax. Hades.jpg|''Hades''
Image:Elsa Dax. Hermaphrodite.jpg|''Hermaphrodite''

Image:Elsa Dax. Poseidon.jpg|''Poseidon''
Image:Elsa Dax. Rhea and Chronos.jpg|''Rhea and Chronos''
Image:2003 Stuckists Summer Show (4).jpg|Work in the [[Stuckism International Gallery]], 2003 (group of 6 behind the bed)
Image:The Stuckists Punk Victorian 4.jpg|Work in ''[[The Stuckists Punk Victorian]]'', [[Walker Art Gallery]], 2004 (right side of wall)

</gallery>

==Notes and references==
[[File:2003 Stuckist Turner demo (2).jpg|thumb|Elsa Dax (right) at the [[Turner Prize]] [[Stuckist demonstrations#2003|Stuckist demonstration, 2003]]]]

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://perso.enst.fr/~dax/elsa/paintings Gallery of Elsa Dax myth paintings]
*[http://www.infres.enst.fr/~dax/elsa/paintings/mythology/ Old gallery of Elsa Dax myth paintings]
*[http://www.mungbeing.com/issue_18_info.html?author=Elsa%20Dax Elsa Dax in mungbeing.com]
*[http://www.johnkerrassociates.com John Kerr Associates]

{{Stuckism International}}

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dax, Elsa}}
[[Category:1972 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century French painters]]
[[Category:21st-century French painters]]
[[Category:Stuckism]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]