An Artist You Should Know: Amy Chasse
Photography by Paloma Dooley, Pat Garcia, Patrick Langlitz, and Amy Chasse in collaboration with Elena Nourabadi.
Amy Chasse is a New York City-based painter and multidisciplinary artist.
Somebody once called Amy an “evil dollmaker” and she doesn’t think that’s too far off. Though she swears her beings aren’t malevolent, they’re not exactly the kinds of dolls that lull you to sleep at night. If there’s any inaccuracy to the moniker, it’s the “dollmaker” part. Amy is predominantly a painter, but her multidisciplinary work fears no medium. Her recent installation piece, “A Doll’s House” involved woodworking, photography, sculpture - even laying carpet - this is set design behavior. It would be more accurate to refer to Amy as a worldbuilder.
Relying on her own elusive memories and working from instinct, she creates work that blurs the lines between lived and created experience. Much of her work is in reference to her northeastern upbringing in rural Connecticut and suburban New York. Familiar scenes are found throughout her body of work - the peeling wallpaper and woodpanelled walls that hung in her grandparents' kitchen, the uncomfortable shades of green and pink that were ubiquitous in 90’s homes, the back seat of a car where raindrop races were viewed. She positions her sometimes-genderless, usually-naked figures in these settings, bringing to life her own twisted realm.
It’s undoubtedly Americana; the experience of living in 2020’s America is a consistent theme throughout her work, and Amy has said that the beings are a vehicle to explore this existence. Chasse’s photo practice led her and her doll on a road trip through a sampling of so-called “flyover” states, on a route stretching from Connecticut to Texas and back again (all in her little blue Honda Civic that was held together with bubble gum and rubber bands). The photos she took feature scenes many of us come to expect in Anywhere, USA. Used car lots promoting financing options for massive Diesel trucks, diner breakfasts complete with a plateful of biscuits and a full glass of whole milk, shrinefuls of plastic sports trophies by the fireplace. She even visited Nashville’s exact-size replica of the Parthenon (no really, they have that).
The context of the photos changes how the viewer reads the doll and its relationship to the artist. They are paired together, navigating this strange American landscape, one a real-life human, one a fictional body. The spaces they visit feel liminal, and the two appear exhausted at times. Is this a commentary on the arduous demands required for a “simple” life in our late-stage-everything country? Maybe. I personally love the reactions, both seen and imagined, that unexpecting bystanders must have when this motley duo shows up in a public establishment. Don’t forget, taking the photos in the first place requires a form of performance art. There is an element of hijinx at hand.
Across mediums, Amy’s work extracts feelings of both whimsy and discomfort. You may find yourself in a fever dream and be reminded of one of Amy’s painted interiors or photographed scenes. It feels like play, but it looks a little scary, like making friends with the older kids at recess. The viewer feels like they’re interrupting something, or maybe they feel their reality is being interrupted. Take, for example, “Low Down”, where Amy sits with the doll on the back of a truck at a used car lot. It makes the viewer feel like they stumbled upon a teenage romance in rural America. Her art turns a mirror on the viewer, before the viewer is ready. If you’re feeling conflicted, with more questions and less answers, you’re on the right track.
Outside of her personal art practice, Amy is working on making an impact through teaching. Her education background began when she taught in elementary charter schools in Brooklyn, which may have manifested in her work with its playful nature. Since then, Chasse has developed a keen interest in bringing opportunities to those in communities with less access to education. Last summer she taught a painting course in a women’s prison in Connecticut. This summer, she is slated to teach a Basic Painting course to currently incarcerated individuals at a men’s prison in Connecticut. The students in that class will be earning legitimate college credits which will apply towards their degree-granting college programs.
Amy is currently part of the 2026 Yale Painting MFA class, and plans to return to New York City in the fall of this year. Amy Chasse’ website is amychasse.com.