EMERGING ARTIST SERIES
June 2019

Anna M. Filiaggi - ”Epitome of Serendipity”
1st Floor Hallway

Artist Statement: 

In my career as an artist, though relatively brief, I have encountered resistance from the audience concerning artwork that is visually abstract. I often get the dreaded question “What is it?” 

Answering with a simple “it is abstract” only serves to further me from that particular audience member. If they understood the nature of abstraction work then the question would never have been asked. This leads me to pursue the art of the abstract all the more relentlessly,and thus continued to push away those who do not understand the work.  

In this series, rather than simply deny them an answer, I hope to circumvent the question altogether. My work focuses on shape and rhythm, how the pieces interact with each other and with their surroundings, and also the audience's relationship with the art.  

It is not about what the shape is, so much as it is about what the shape is not.

Artist Bio:

Anna M. Filiaggi, an artist based in Madison Heights, VA, earned her BFA at Longwood University in 2018 with a concentration in painting and drawing. Since graduating, her artistic focus has expanded to encompass the use of reclaimed materials, such as wood and fabric, in the process of creating both 2D and 3D abstract works. Much of her work is centered around shape and the concept of abstraction in relation to the human compulsion to force subjective labels onto the abstract.