Q&A: Meet the artist - Elise Schweitzer

First Posted: October 31, 2012 - 7:35 pm
Last Updated: October 31, 2012 - 7:39 pm

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An oil painting from Elise Schweitzer's upcoming collection "Centaurs and Bellydancers." The exhibition takes real-life events in Schweitzer's life, and adds allegorical or fantastical details to them. "Centaurs and Bellydancers" opens Friday at Gallery 924 in Indianapolis. SUBMITTED PHOTO

When it comes to her artwork, Elise Schweitzer prefers everything be as big as life.

Huge canvases are filled with life-size dancers, surprised party guests and rampaging half men-half horses. Oil paintings stretch more than 12 feet across.

Bigger surfaces provide more leeway for Schweitzer to create her unique and colorful artwork. Her most recent exhibition, “Centaurs and Bellydancers,” combines autobiographical events in her life, such as planning a wedding, with the fantastical and surreal. The exhibition opens Friday.

“Some of them have things that are totally ridiculous, even though they’re very serious paintings. I wanted to challenge myself to match that or at least approach that in my paintings,” she said.

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