Avery Wheless makes energetic and tender paintings, drawings, videos, and installations that capture the agency, presence, and creativity of the contemporary female body. Wheless’ protagonists frolic, float, pose, play, and dance at dinner parties and in restaurants, while traveling together, or while just chilling at home—each painting offering a sanctum full of multitudinous subjectivities and free from the male gaze. Wheless’ glowing palette and her confident, gestural brushwork are informed by her longstanding relationship to movement and light—sketching people in cafes with her father (an animator) and dancing with her mother (a ballet teacher) from a young age and later painting en plein-air along the northern California coast with a close-knit group of women painters. More recently, her experiences as a filmmaker, writer, and frequent collaborator all contribute to her vigorous studio practice, where she embraces her role as a conduit for artistic energy.
Caption:
Avery Wheless in her studio in Los Angeles, California (2024). Image courtesy of the Artist & OCHI. Photo by Deen Babakhyi.
Ochi Galley
119 Lewis Street | Ketchum
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