www.surrealismnow.com

SURREALISM NOW! is proud to present the art of ELENA MARY SIFF! Her collage art is surreal and experimental, a complete original! To see more of Elena's art,  please go to her personal website at,

http://www.elenamarysiff.com

"Elena Mary Siff mines a broad range of contemporary images and artifacts in work with a particularly social and political bent."

- Nancy Doll, Former Director, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts forum

Artist Statement:

In my studio, I interpret the mystery, the humor and the threat of my dreams. Like a beachcomber or a scavenger wondering among the ruins, I collect and juxtopose bits of disparate material, creating my own order. The souvenirs of my travels have been a constant source of inspiration.

"Everything can be used, but of course one doesn't know it at the time. How does one know what a certain object will tell another"

- Joseph Cornell.

That unpredictable dialogue is the basis of my method and my faith.

-Elena Mary Siff

Solo Exhibitions...

• 2002 Birdsong, installation in Clover Park, FRESH ART project, Santa Monica Arts Commission
• 1993 Speaking Thunder, Installation, Santa Monica Place, Santa monica, CA
• 1992 Speaking Thunder, Installation, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
• 1989 Sanctuary, Installation, Gallery 25, Fresno, CA
• 1988 Life is a Lottery, Installation, Window Space, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
• 1982 Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
• 1981 Alice Benjamin Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
• 1978 New Media Galery, Ventura College, Ventura, CA
• College of Creative Studies Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara

  Selected Group Exhibitions (last ten years)...  

• 2002 Forumulations, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA - Reactions, Exit Art, New York, NY
• 2001 Chouinard: A Living Legacy, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA, catalog - Cut and Paste: Collage, Etherington Fine Art, Martha's Vineyard, MA - From the Hands of the Maker, Temple Judea Museum, Elkins Park, PA - Not for Publication: In the Spirit of the Book, Hillwood Art Museum, C.W. Post College, Long Island University, New York
• 2000 Third Biennial Artists' Books Exhibition, Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, La Jolla, CA - On Paper, Skidmore contemporary Art, Malibu, CA
• 1999 Fifth Wexford Artists' Book Festival, Wexford Art Centre, Wexford, Ireland, catalog - Reassembled Perceptions, Sales Gallery, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
• 1999 - 2002 So Called Books: Diversity in Artists' Books from Southern California, The Center for Book Arts, San Francisco, CA (traveled to Center for Book Arts, New York, Marriott Library, Rare Books Division, Univerisity of Utah, Special Collections, Library, UCLA), catalog - Open and Closed: Artists' Contemporary Books as Sculptural Form, Fullerton College, Fullerton, CA
• 1998 Fourth Wexford Artists' Books Festival, Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford, Ireland, catalog - PT Gallery, Hamamatsu, Japan
• 1997 The Pink Wink, New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA - Splice, Side Stree Projects, Santa Monica, CA, catalog - Gallery Art Salon II, Chiba Japan - Third Wexford Artists' Books Festival, Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford, Ireland - 118W/24N, Galerien Minoriten, Graz, Austria - Women of the Book: Jewish Artists, Jewish Themes, selected venues through 2003, catalog - Book Objects, Artworks Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
• 1996 Blessings and Beginnings, The Skirball Cultural Center Museum, Los Angeles, CA, catalog - Pandora's Box, Antikenmuseum, Basel, Switzerland, catalog - Books in the Living Room, The Living Room, Santa Monica, CA
• 1995 Global/Focus: Women in Art and Culture, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. - U.S.A. Within Limits, Galeria Millan, San Paolo, Brazil - Eco Nation: Patriots of the Earth, Bedford Art Gallery, Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA
• 1994 Only the Shadow Knows: Revelations from the Unconscious, Tree Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah - Artists' Response to AIDS, 1994, Ventura College, Ventura, CA - Alchemy of Fire, Channing Peake Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA - What's Next, Merging One Gallery, Santa Monica, CA - The Book Unbound, The Ormond Memorial Museum Ormond Beach, FL and other U.S. venues, catalog
• 1993 World of Difference: Art, Tourism and Cultural Dialogues, Euphrat Gallery, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA - Shaped Structures: Bookworks in Form, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Versdes, CA - Teenagers, Teenagers, Fullerton Museum Center, Fullerton, CA - All that Glitters, Frameworks and De la Guerra Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA