Elana Adler

Elana Adler (born 1986) is a multidisciplinary artist born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and currently based in Portland. She received a BFA in textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008 and an MFA in fibers and material studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017. While in Chicago, Adler co-organized an artist-run gallery called Adler & Floyd and managed a studio collective in the Industrial Clocktower Building. Her residencies include Surf Point Foundation, Haystack, Monson Arts, Vermont Studio Center, the Wassaic Project, and Hatch Projects through the Chicago Artist Coalition. Adler has exhibited her work nationally and has received funding from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and the Illinois Art Council. In addition to her studio practice, Adler teaches at the Maine College of Art and Design and works as a studio assistant. 

Artist Statement

I use the grid as a tactical mapping system and a geometric configuration inherited from the past. It is a constant variable that is continually translated and transformed. Utilizing the grid as an accessible visual language, I make work inspired by complex systems and structures of power while challenging expectation through material potential.

I create visual systems using a variety of materials to draw attention to the spaces in society where systems uphold order, and the spaces in between. I am interested in how these liminal spaces are both in motion and imperceptible. I explore correspondence as an emotional, nuanced exchange, highlighting the ways in which systems are exclusionary by design, and the fringes are activated by those on the outside.