Opens: Friday, June 2, Leon Family Art Gallery
Opening reception: Tuesday, June 6, 5:30–8 pm
Artist Elizabeth Passerieux will exhibit her work in the Leon Family Art Gallery on the second floor of the Simon Family JCC.
Passerieux was born in Montpellier, France in 1995, moved to Spain, and then settled in Virginia in 2007.
Growing up in a variety of European cities surrounded by a rich history has deeply influenced her artwork, says Passerieux. She says she was supported by a family with “the love of art and history,” and was able to develop her expression and style from an early age.
Passerieux says that reading broody Romantic novels of the 18th and 19th centuries that often featured intricate and haunting etchings, became a main source of inspiration, along with her growing collection of curious Victorian photography.
Passerieux works primarily in graphite, charcoals, and ink. Her style ranges from detailed, crosshatched scenes of gothic romance and melancholy, to loose charcoal portraits of imagined fops and dandies. Themes of loss, pride, vanity, and love populate her work.
For more information about the Leon Art Gallery, contact Michele Goldberg, director of cultural arts, at 757-321-2341.