Vee Gansebom
[BFA] Painting
[Minor] Art History
[Minor] English
[Minor] Philosophy
I am a traditional oil painter that thinks beyond the simple two-dimensional image by layering and building textures over the surface of my work. Exploring adding mediums like plaster or modeling paste as a base to my paintings has proved an effective way to achieve this effect. Inspired by psychedelia and HPPD, my three-dimensional paintings aim to give illusionary properties to the natural state of the world. I hope to open conversation about the differing potentials of our own perception of reality. Additionally, I attempt to convey alternate possibilities by creating an immersive experience with depictions of a distorted natural environment. To do this, I focus on broadening sensory elements past just the visual––so that the 3D aspect feeds into the viewer’s experience of the piece.
That’s not to say the only subject matter I focus on is environmental; it also expands to the human figure. When focused on such, I add a surreal touch to realism portraiture. You can probably infer that my surreal elements revolve around visual hallucinations; yet, they also aim to contextualize mental states. Being based off of real-time delirium, my surreal portraits pose existentialism and introspection––which usually translate to elements of distortion and discomfort. When I pair these two subject matters side-by-side, they foil my message and add a sense of personableness to further interpret that one’s mental can exist in alternate realities. Regardless of subject matter, my message argues that reality is not universal for everyone, but rather flexible.
Bio
Vee Gansebom is a student artist attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Coming May 2023, Gansebom will earn their BA in Art [painting]––along with minors in philosophy, English, and art history. As a means to divert obsessions from their OCD, Vee has used realism as a basis for their artwork for some time; but now, they infuse surreal elements (usually involving texture) to suggest a distorted sense of reality. This adheres to their goal of mimicking visual disorders in attempts to spread awareness and start conversation of living different realities from one another. Vee enjoys applying their background in philosophy to build off the concept and dive into matters such as David Lewis’s possible worlds. Their work is now shown in local gallery exhibitions as well as sold via commissions. You can find their art on Instagram by the handle @theveesknees.artstudio or contact them for commissions at theveeskneesart@gmail.com.