Anna Weyant


Anna Weyant is a New York–based artist whose figurative paintings blend influence from the Dutch Golden Age with an awareness of contemporary popular culture and social media.

Education

Weyant holds a Bachelor of Arts in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Work

Weyant’s figurative oil paintings are rooted in a tongue-in-cheek humor. Her subjects are girls in their early to mid-adolescence with smooth, youthful faces that belie an unseen potential for violence: one girl’s torso reveals a healing scar, another’s feet swing freely either in play or from a noose. Their environments are claustrophobic interiors decorated in monochromatic shades of olive, taupe, and gray. While the artist’s comically spooky portraits reveal a thorough knowledge of Old Master painters such as Johannes Vermeer and Frans Hals, they contain an equal amount of contemporary fine art and pop culture references, ranging from John Currin and Elizabeth Peyton to Todd Solondz and the Addams Family.
Weyant’s works suggest an unseen tension just out of view, for instance in her renditions of sparse dollhouses indicating haunting family secrets. The works featured in her solo exhibition Welcome to the Dollhouse borrow René Magritte’s signature clouds and surreal version of twilight to emphasize the ominous overtones implicit in the subjects’ dreamlike world.

Exhibitions

Weyant has had one solo exhibit, "Welcome to the Dollhouse"
Weyant’s work has appeared in group shows, including Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles; Recharge Foundation, Singapore; Tina Kim Gallery, New York; Fischer Parrish Gallery, Brooklyn; East End Culture Club, New York; Ochi Projects, Los Angeles; Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami; Local Projects, Long Island City; Red Curtains Theater, New York; Firehouse Center Gallery, Damariscotta, Maine; Memorial Hall Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island; Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island; Chelsea College of Arts, London; and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.