The “Glimpse Series” offers a closer view of the AAR community’s current Rome Prize winners by delving further into their studios or studies, their daily routines or work in progress. The scholarly and artistic work being pursued continues to be as varied as the fellowship recipients themselves. The following “Glimpse” focuses on Elliott Green, a painter from New York and the Jules Guerin Rome Prize Fellow in Visual Arts.
Describe a particularly inspiring moment or location you've experienced in Rome thus far.
There are two types of dreams that seem indisputably optimistic, like auguries for a delightful future—the flying dream and the dream of hidden rooms. I've experienced both here as a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. From the vantage point of the roof terrace of the McKim building I've looked down over the vast expanse of the city and felt like I was floating above it, seeing it all at once, but at the same time able to distinguish crisp details of extraordinary beauty in certain singular landmarks.
The second type of dream, where the dreamer comes upon forgotten doors leading to unknown rooms is generally interpreted as a dawning awareness of a hidden potential in one's self. I have replayed that scenario, but awake, browsing in the labyrinthine AAR library, and especially in the lower levels, where there are ever more corridors and rooms filled with shelves holding thousands of books containing an infinite wealth of discoveries.
To what extent, if any, has your proposed project changed since your arrival?
My plan was to create and assemble eighteen related paintings in an installation that would cycle motifs of change and time. I'm on my way to doing that—it will take me longer than I planned, but I think it will end up better than I imagined. I know now how it will look and feel and how the ideas and abstract forms will transition from one section to the next. Since I've been in Italy, aspects of landscape and spatial depth have entered my paintings; this is affecting smaller sections as well as the whole composition. During my stay here I've also made paintings that stand alone and will not be included in the larger project.
What's surprised you most about living in Rome?
I realized I like people more than I thought, especially the ones associated with the AAR. Beside the great assortment of talent, intelligence, discipline and energy is the compelling way people here express themselves and explain their work.
There's also a wonderful surplus of humility, which might partly be explained by the range of accomplished people that surrounds one here. It's hard to feel superior when the individual sitting next to you at a meal knows fourteen languages. And it makes life fun. When I return home, I’ll miss the people at the Academy even more than Rome itself, which seems to me to be the most interesting location on the planet.
How have you managed the balance between your work (confinement in the studio!) and engagement with Rome? This balance is never the same for any two Fellows.
I've had bubbles of productivity in my studio, but I don't have any set working schedule, so I can't say that was disrupted. I've also been able to take trips to Sicily, Florence and Turkey. I hope to do a lot more painting with the remaining time that I have, but there's still a lot more to see.
What's your favorite dish in the RSFP kitchen?
The consistent excellence of the dishes prepared here, the variety and the ingenuity employed to use seasonal ingredients is exceptional—there have been really nice surprises at every meal. That said, the Thanksgiving dinner here was absolutely remarkable. The turkey was perfectly cooked and the whole event was well planned, masterfully accomplished, and excessively generous—it was a distinct highlight and will remain a great memory.
How do you anticipate your Rome Prize Fellowship will influence future work?
I came here hoping to gain a better knowledge of the humanities and history and thereby add dimension to my paintings; I think that has happened already and that ultimately I will leave Rome with a better understanding of myself and a deeper, denser sense of human nature and the weathering of Time.
I also hoped to see so much ancient marble that I would come to feel it in my bones; I have, and I do. And I'm grateful.