Elke Finkenauer
visual artist

Bio

Elke Finkenauer is a visual artist, working predominantly in drawing, sculpture and text. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand to New Zealand/German parents and has lived in Glasgow, UK since 2014. She has a Master of Fine Art from The Glasgow School of Art (2015). Her recent project 'Fragments of a Method'/'BitParts’ (2020–23), was a durational drawing project based on an analogue dataset developed in parallel with research undertaken with Creative Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. In 2022 she was awarded the Glasgow Visual Artist and Craft Maker Bursary. She sits on the board of trustees of LUX (UK).

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Statement

I work across drawing, sculpture, text, printmaking and digital mediums. My work centres around the relationship between the said and unsaid. Through improvisation with materials and forms I explore disconnects relating to experiences such as aging, relationships, and the pursuit of “making it”. Using texture, colour, humour, and form, I convey often wordless narratives about incongruities implicit within this. My research draws from fiction, data-driven systems, and everyday human interactions, looking for parallels and overlaps between these sources. My perspectives are shaped by experiences of relocation, a past career as a data analyst, and family members who work in practical crafts and accumulate ordinary things. The results of this practice have taken form as soft-drawings, iridescent bead screens, micro-narratives, translucent books, and unnameable objects.​​

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