FANTASY ARTIST ALEXANDRA ENGELMAN CREATES MUCH OF HER WORK DIGITALLY, WHICH SHE THEN TRANSFERS TO A TANGIBLE FORMAT THROUGH ETCHINGS AND SERIGRAPHY. INTROSPECTION MANIFESTED WAS EXHIBITED IN THE PRESS GALLERY WITH MESSINA'S PASS ON DISPLAY IN THE MAIN EXHIBITION SPACE.

"Ever since I was young, I had a fascination with mythical beasts, creatures, demons, and monsters. I collected any information and visual aids about them that I could get my hands on; books, artwork, figurines, etc. I enjoyed their lore, physical features, and abilities. I drew them constantly when I was young and used them to express myself because I found them a little more engaging than the human figure. It was only after I entered college I discovered that these creatures were the perfect vehicle to express and illustrate human emotions, thoughts, ideas, and the condition of their mental state; even accompanying the human figure or an abstraction of one.

One could say that my imagery can be a bit too dark, abstract or disconnecting; however since I found that monsters posess no guidelines to how they should look, they are the best way to express an ambiguous idea or concept such as apathy, embarrassment, confidence, depression, etc. Monsters, creatures, beasts, and demons allow me to fully manifest my inner most thoughts and concepts into visual space. They just make sense to me as an artist."

- Alexandra Engelman