Glaessner’s brightly hued paintings teem with life, drawing on personal history, memory and ritual, both real and imagined. The works depict a utopian and surreal universe that Glaessner has been exploring in her work over the last decade, featuring theatrical and celebratory figures that blur the line between myth and reality. Glaessner has had a long-time fascination with the way ancient societies immortalized their leaders through the repetition of stories passed down orally and visually through depictions on murals and objects, often resulting in exaggerated and performative figures. Glaessner mirrors this idea with her scroll works – a material new to her practice – forming a visual narrative that expands and gains meaning through the repetition of imagery, including motifs inspired by her personal memories, prehistoric friezes, and rituals drawn from myths.

Glaessner’s choice of material and purity of expression reference the visceral and frank exploration of the body pioneered by Carolee Schneemann and Nancy Spero. The work also draws inspiration from German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon who, before she was killed in the Holocaust, painted 800 gouaches titled Life? Or Theatre? A Play With Music, many of which reflected an imagined daily existence, a re-writing of personal history. Glaessner’s works too, reflect a world that is both past and present, real and imagined, exploring the fluid nature of time through materials that invite multiple points of entry and understanding.