ARTIST STATEMENT

I make art that is spooky, sexy, and very silly. My work would be right at home on the walls of the Addams family. I use lurid colors and cartoonish figures to depict my dark subject matter with a little levity. My love of the macabre stems from my unusual upbringing with my gentle mother who lives with schizophrenia. We weren’t like most families but we had a lot of love. My mom has often been unfairly stigmatized because of her illness. I’ve always found comfort in stories that challenge the label of monster with sympathetic and misunderstood characters, like the Creation in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or Shrek in the 2001 animated film. I use the visual arts to explore repressed emotional states around typically taboo topics like psychotic mental illness and sexual desire. I seek to make explicit that which is often hidden and shamed from sight.

E-MAIL
furelisemccall (at) gmail (dot) com

BIO
My name is Elise(she/her). I’m a painter, concept artist, and comic illustrator. I’ve illustrated for comics published with IMAGE comics, DARK HORSE comics, and several indie projects. My work also includes concept art & storyboards for film. Once upon a time I also designed the logo for my brother-in-law Fredrik Knudsen’s Down the Rabbit Hole series on Youtube.

  • Born 1994 in New York. Raised New York / Oregon. Lives and works in Oregon.

    Education
    2017 BFA, Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC), Portland, OR.

    Commissions
    2024 Concept art and film poster for TO HOLD THE NIGHT (2024), Directed by Jessica Petelle, Remote.
    2021 Kickstarter promo art for REBURN featuring ANJALI BHIMANI as Reverence & LAURA VANDERVOORT as Poppy, Reburn Media, Inc., Remote.
    2020 Select storyboards for film TRIGGER POINT (2021), With Jessica Petelle, Remote.
    2020 Lobby card illustration for graphic novel BLACKING OUT, With Chip Mosher and Sean Edgar, Remote.
    2017 Logo Design for Youtube Documentary Series DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, With Fredrik Knudsen, Remote.
    2016 Book cover illustration for THE DISTENDED EYE, With Fredrik Knudsen. Remote.

    Collaborative Publications
    2022 POSTMORTEM, Episodes #1-4. Webtoon Canvas. With Cory Knudsen.
    2022 REBURN, Single Issues #1-4. Reburn Media Inc. With multiple collaborators.
    2021 SPY ISLAND, Trade Paperback. Dark Horse Comics. With multiple collaborators.
    2020 UNVERSED POSTSCRIPT, “Grass Stains”, Comics Anthology, Pacific Northwest College of Art. With various authors.
    2019 MAN-EATERS, Vol.3 Trade Paperback. Image Comics. With multiple collaborators.

    Group Exhibitions
    2022 Power in Numbers: 2022, Gallery Nucleus, Alhambra, CA.
    2017 Recent Graduates, Blackfish Gallery, Portland, OR.
    2017 FULCRUM, 321 NE Davis, Portland, OR.
    2017 Juried Show, Visual Arts Center Gallery, MHCC, Gresham, OR.