Mary Schepisi
Encyclopedia
Mary Rubin Schepisi is an American artist currently working in Melbourne, Australia and New York City. She is married to the film director Fred Schepisi.
at the age of 10, where she came to study with many leading figures in the formative art movements of the 1960s, including the painters Jean Liberte and Milton Glasier. She attended Birch Wathen School on the Upper East Side and Boston University's College of Fine Arts
. Schepisi spent her early career in the fashion and modeling industries. She has one sister, Leslie Slatkin, a nephew, William Slatkin, one son, Nicholas Schepisi, who currently works in film in New York, and six step-children.
, painting
, collage
, needlework
and a range of mixed media
applications. When signing her smaller works Schepisi on occasion uses the lower-case monogram "mrs". Her art practice is notable for the high level of engagement she pursues with her subject matter. From the political to the personal, covering topics from perestroika
to domestic violence
, Schepisi often develops a close working partnership with her subjects as each body of work takes shape.
Schepisi's early work comprised small-scale pieces undertaken in her travels to film locations with her director-husband Fred Schepisi. One notable exhibition from these years was Glasnost/Perestroika (1990) shown in different configurations in London, Los Angeles and Melbourne, which was executed in 1989 during the shooting of The Russia House
in Moscow, the first American production granted permission to film in the Soviet Union. With access to many leading figures in Russian film circles, including Raisa Fomina, Masha Chugunova (assistant to Andrei Tarkovsky
), the producer Leonid Vereschagin and the famed director Elem Klimov
, the artist employed painting and collage—clipping reports in the morning newspaper and gathering ephemera from her daily travels in Moscow—to chronicle the rapidly changing cultural landscape under Mikhail Gorbachev's
policy of perestroika.
Schepisi's most recent body of work, Beauty Interrupted (2011) involves photographs of models in New York, Paris and Milan fashion shows similarly over-painted with contemporary and topical imagery including burkhas and burkinis
(Islam-approved swimwear).
Her more personal work is both intimate and confronting, delving into issues of domestic violence, mental illness and sexual assault, in some cases combining text with portraiture. In Speculations (2004), Schepisi asked a large number of women to write often highly personal biographical essays before painting their portraits. The essays and paintings were then hung unmatched, leaving it to the viewer to connect each woman's life story to her portrait.
In recent years Schepisi has turned to needlework to address both the personal and political from her strongly feminist perspective. The subject matter for these pieces varies widely, from images of handguns and household cleaning products to indigenous Australian iconography and text-based invectives. A current work-in-progress entails a body of needlepoint revealing an exchange of imagined love letters sent between her Polish grandmother and the fictive Leipzig artist Johann Dieter Wassmann
(1841–1898). Of this use of text Schepisi writes:
Schepisi has been an active supporter of arts philanthropy, in 2009 organizing an art auction that raised $84,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
. She and her husband own a winery on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, where they live part of the year.
2011 Beauty Interrupted, L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival
2011 It's Up To You, Mossgreen Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Guns, Birds & Words, Bowman/Bloom, New York
2009 Guns, Birds & Words, Chapman & Bailey, Melbourne
2007 Inferences...a summer diary, Bowman/Bloom, New York
2004 The Collection, Span Galleries, Melbourne
2004 Speculations, Span Galleries, Melbourne
2002 Bodies of Evidence, Span Galleries, Melbourne
2002 Mary's Little Gems, 69 Smith Street, Melbourne
2000 Postcard Show, Royal College of Art, London
1998 Toys for Joy, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
1997 George Gallery, Melbourne
1994 The Sofa Series, William Mora Gallery, Melbourne
1990 Glasnost/Perestroika, Jo Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles
1990 Glasnost/Perestroika, William Mora Gallery, Melbourne
1990 Glasnost/Perestroika, San Lorenzo, London
1988 Evil Angels, Peter Grant Fine Art, Melbourne
2010 Conflict/Interest, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia
2008 The Beast In Me, Bowman/Bloom, New York
2001 Art by Gum, School of Botany Foundation, University of Melbourne
2000 Secret, Royal College of Art Exhibition, London
1999 George Galley, Melbourne
1998 Exchanging Places, George Gallery in Residence, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1995 Sofa Series, at the River, Southgate, Melbourne
1991 Mr. Baseball, Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver
Background
Schepisi was born Mary Rubin into a Jewish family in New York City. Her father, the son of Polish immigrants, operated a company supplying industrial uniforms. Her mother migrated to the United States from England. Always supportive of Schepisi's interest in the arts, her parents enrolled her in the Art Students League of New YorkArt Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
at the age of 10, where she came to study with many leading figures in the formative art movements of the 1960s, including the painters Jean Liberte and Milton Glasier. She attended Birch Wathen School on the Upper East Side and Boston University's College of Fine Arts
Boston University College of Fine Arts
The Boston University College of Fine Arts is unit of Boston University. The College consists of the School of Music, the School of Theatre, and the School of Visual Arts. Each of the individual schools offer degrees in the performing and visual arts at the undergraduate and graduate level...
. Schepisi spent her early career in the fashion and modeling industries. She has one sister, Leslie Slatkin, a nephew, William Slatkin, one son, Nicholas Schepisi, who currently works in film in New York, and six step-children.
Work
Schepisi's figurative-based works involve drawingDrawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
, needlework
Needlework
Needlework is a broad term for the handicrafts of decorative sewing and textile arts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework...
and a range of mixed media
Mixed media
Mixed media, in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.There is an important distinction between "mixed-media" artworks and "multimedia art". Mixed media tends to refer to a work of visual art that combines various traditionally distinct...
applications. When signing her smaller works Schepisi on occasion uses the lower-case monogram "mrs". Her art practice is notable for the high level of engagement she pursues with her subject matter. From the political to the personal, covering topics from perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
to domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, Schepisi often develops a close working partnership with her subjects as each body of work takes shape.
Schepisi's early work comprised small-scale pieces undertaken in her travels to film locations with her director-husband Fred Schepisi. One notable exhibition from these years was Glasnost/Perestroika (1990) shown in different configurations in London, Los Angeles and Melbourne, which was executed in 1989 during the shooting of The Russia House
The Russia House (film)
The Russia House is an American spy drama, based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré. It was directed by Fred Schepisi, and starred Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, with Roy Scheider, James Fox, John Mahoney, and Klaus Maria Brandauer in supporting roles.It was filmed on location in...
in Moscow, the first American production granted permission to film in the Soviet Union. With access to many leading figures in Russian film circles, including Raisa Fomina, Masha Chugunova (assistant to Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
), the producer Leonid Vereschagin and the famed director Elem Klimov
Elem Klimov
Elem Germanovich Klimov was a Soviet Russian film director. He studied at VGIK, and was married to film director Larisa Shepitko. He is best known in the West for his final film, 1985's Come and See , a powerful tale of a teenage boy in German-occupied Byelorussia during the German-Soviet War,...
, the artist employed painting and collage—clipping reports in the morning newspaper and gathering ephemera from her daily travels in Moscow—to chronicle the rapidly changing cultural landscape under Mikhail Gorbachev's
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
policy of perestroika.
Schepisi's most recent body of work, Beauty Interrupted (2011) involves photographs of models in New York, Paris and Milan fashion shows similarly over-painted with contemporary and topical imagery including burkhas and burkinis
Burqini
A burqini swimsuit is a type of swimsuit for women designed by Lebanese Australian Aheda Zanetti under the company name Ahiida....
(Islam-approved swimwear).
Her more personal work is both intimate and confronting, delving into issues of domestic violence, mental illness and sexual assault, in some cases combining text with portraiture. In Speculations (2004), Schepisi asked a large number of women to write often highly personal biographical essays before painting their portraits. The essays and paintings were then hung unmatched, leaving it to the viewer to connect each woman's life story to her portrait.
In recent years Schepisi has turned to needlework to address both the personal and political from her strongly feminist perspective. The subject matter for these pieces varies widely, from images of handguns and household cleaning products to indigenous Australian iconography and text-based invectives. A current work-in-progress entails a body of needlepoint revealing an exchange of imagined love letters sent between her Polish grandmother and the fictive Leipzig artist Johann Dieter Wassmann
Johann Dieter Wassmann
Johann Dieter Wassmann is a fictitious artist and sewerage engineer, purportedly from Leipzig, Germany. He is the creation of the American-born artist and writer Jeff Wassmann.-Background:...
(1841–1898). Of this use of text Schepisi writes:
Schepisi has been an active supporter of arts philanthropy, in 2009 organizing an art auction that raised $84,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
JDRF is the leading global organization focused on type 1 diabetes research. Driven by volunteers connected to children, adolescents, and adults with this disease, JDRF is the largest charitable supporter of T1D research...
. She and her husband own a winery on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, where they live part of the year.
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2011 Beauty Interrupted, L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival
2011 It's Up To You, Mossgreen Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Guns, Birds & Words, Bowman/Bloom, New York
2009 Guns, Birds & Words, Chapman & Bailey, Melbourne
2007 Inferences...a summer diary, Bowman/Bloom, New York
2004 The Collection, Span Galleries, Melbourne
2004 Speculations, Span Galleries, Melbourne
2002 Bodies of Evidence, Span Galleries, Melbourne
2002 Mary's Little Gems, 69 Smith Street, Melbourne
2000 Postcard Show, Royal College of Art, London
1998 Toys for Joy, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
1997 George Gallery, Melbourne
1994 The Sofa Series, William Mora Gallery, Melbourne
1990 Glasnost/Perestroika, Jo Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles
1990 Glasnost/Perestroika, William Mora Gallery, Melbourne
1990 Glasnost/Perestroika, San Lorenzo, London
1988 Evil Angels, Peter Grant Fine Art, Melbourne
Group Exhibitions
2010 Conflict/Interest, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia
2008 The Beast In Me, Bowman/Bloom, New York
2001 Art by Gum, School of Botany Foundation, University of Melbourne
2000 Secret, Royal College of Art Exhibition, London
1999 George Galley, Melbourne
1998 Exchanging Places, George Gallery in Residence, Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney
1995 Sofa Series, at the River, Southgate, Melbourne
1991 Mr. Baseball, Diane Farris Gallery, Vancouver