About

Biography

Autumn Meyer is an American oil painter currently completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a specialization in Painting at Southern Illinois University. In addition to this, she is also completing a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, a minor in Art History, and a minor in American Sign Language.

Artist Statement

At the age of five, I already had a firm grasp on the concept of obsession and how it so easily takes control of one’s life. Unbeknownst at the time, I had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that developed in severity until I was diagnosed at fifteen. Since I had to learn to live and cope with the overwhelming obsession of OCD throughout my entire childhood, I was forced to find some form of beauty within it despite its shocking and scary nature. After receiving medication for both OCD and Tourette’s Syndrome in high school, I was able to find enough peace to bring those creative thoughts to life through paint.

My oil paintings bring to life the thoughts and ideas that are inspired by my intrusive thoughts, my compulsions, my derealization, and my tics. In today’s society the discussion surrounding OCD and Tourette's Syndrome tends to hover around the definitions of what they are, not how they feel. In place of verbally explaining the details of my intrusive thoughts, I display my emotions and the mental sensations of these themes through oil paint on canvas. I portray how each of these aspects feel to me on their own as well as when they are intertwined together in my life through creating surreal imagery which often includes repetition, distortion, and the fragmentation of the figure. I find closure from being able to visually express the thoughts I have difficulty saying out loud.