Chelsie Sunde "jacob wrestled with god for his blessing"

Chelsie Sunde "jacob wrestled with god for his blessing" 2026

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Dimensions 16 x 30 inches
Unique
Signed on Verso

Chelsie Sunde (b. 1996, American) is an artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Her practice centers on themes of memory and desire, working primarily in oil painting and oil pastel to depict intimate interior scenes, bodies, and moments of recollection. She holds a BFA from Gonzaga University and an MFA from Brooklyn College.

In 2025, Sunde was selected for the Transform Arts Residency at Reis Studios in Long Island City, New York. Her work has been exhibited at Powerhouse Arts and The Painting Center in New York City.

Artist Statement 

"My practice explores memory, desire, and the emotional traces of relationships. I am interested in the way certain moments remain with us after they pass, returning as fragments, sensations, or ghosts.

My paintings often begin with familiar experiences that become dreamlike as they are remembered. Working between figuration and abstraction, I crop, suspend, or dissolve figures into transparent layers and saturated color, shifting ordinary moments toward the mythic. Each painting begins with a specific memory or sensation but becomes less like a record and more like a dream—altered by feeling, time, and memory." - Chelsie Sunde