Annelie McKenzie

Statement: The interest is in the matter of flesh and thought; their origin, being, and destiny in the earth. Where do the boundaries of a body (and feelings) end and the earth begin?

Born: Montreal, Canada, 1974.
Current Location: Long Beach, California.
Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Calgary, Canada.1997.

Exhibitions:
2nd City Council Gallery, Long Beach, 2009.
Long Beach Arts Gallery, Long Beach, 2009.
Viento y Agua Gallery, Long Beach, 2009.
Long Beach Arts Gallery, Long Beach, 2006. (2nd prize winner)
The Rio, Encino, 2004.
Ann Donahue, Los Angeles, 2003.
Trim Salon, Venice, 2003.
Artagonist, Los Angeles, 2002.
A-Channel Studios, Calgary, 1999.

Publications:
Los Angeles Journal, "Centerspread Art," December 2005.
Other Voices Magazine, "Interview with Annelie McKenzie," Volume 13, December 2000.
Moxie Online Magazine, "Moxie Chicks," August 2000.
The Alberta Report, "Nude Painting Without the Nudity," April 26, 1999.
The Calgary Herald, "Painting the Inner Portrait," March 12, 1999.

The following bio is true, and also a parody of Julian Schnabel's bio, found at lococofineart.com.

born in montreal, canada, annelie mckenzie moved with her family to western canada when still very young and it was there that she spent her formative years. She received her b.f.a. from the university of calgary in 1997, gained a few tasty crumbs of recognition from her hometown, and consequently picked up and moved to Los Angeles (she was accepted). struggling in the art world, mckenzie taught emotionally disturbed kids and hung out in raunchy nightclubs performing as a drummer in various indie rock/punk bands, while furtively pumping out scribbly life drawings (there are about 400). in 2003, mckenzie had her first solo show at the ann donahue new condo non-gallery in los angeles. over the next few years she all but quit painting as she put way too much effort into beer-soaked indie bands and travelled to vegas frequently, where she was enormously impressed with steve martin's collection of art as well as dale chihuly.

it was with her final act of quitting yet another band in 2008 that mckenzie would truly come to be regarded as a rededicated yet still completely unknown force in the art world. she participated in local art shows run by feisty little old ladies who turned no one away. by this time she had long abandoned commissioned portraits, built up her own body of work, and effortlessly avoided all dealings with any type of major gallery. but what was beyond doubt was the vibrancy and enchantment that mckenzie brought to a small number of people who stumbled upon viewing the work in her studio or online. appropriating the "human paint brush" idea of yves klein, taking over and widening the male gaze and forcing it upon a greater variety of human bodies, her tightly-packed, highly flora/fauna/cell patterned style answers and transcends the material of klein.

mckenzie's signature works, large format bodyprints surrounded by what she calls "emotons" (bits of thought, earth, and sunfluff) contain an underlying stillness beneath the noise of our human environments (physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual). mckenzie claims that she's "aiming to expose the physical reality of thought and emotion which fill the vast expanse of negative space/empty space echoing in between the molecules of our bodies and our earth." considered heroic, mckenzie is known for having a dynamic personality hidden underneath a layer of stoicism, finely honed through years of a "frozen chosen" baptist upbringing.

annelie mckenzie lives in long beach, maintaining a studio in long beach. her works are piled up there but headed towards collections of various museums, etc. she cohabits with her three hamsters: and her her video-game-programming, poker-playing husband, jason. her drumming/recording projects might be found if one searches for: the 13th avenue blues band, the sadderdays, cheem, and ex-paladin.