David Thurmon Is a self-taught artist based out of Merced, CA. "I've been making art since 2012 but didn't begin to pursue it seriously until 2020. It became an escape and a way to slow down my ever-racing mind by channeling it into something lasting. I typically work with acrylic paint or Sakura micron pens, but I enjoy learning and exploring other mediums. I try to allow everything I create to begin with a mindless, expressive drawing to avoid overthinking or overworking the piece. I want whoever views my art to feel something and develop their interpretation of it. My current influences are Zio Ziegler, George Condo, and Picasso."

Janiece Maddox (b. 1998, Davenport, IA) is an interdisciplinary artist who earned her BFA in ceramics from the University of Iowa in 2022. She is currently based in Chicago, IL, where she keeps a studio practice and works as a ceramics educator throughout the Chicago area. Her work addresses concepts of her identity and reality by contemplating societal institutions' influence on our thinking.

"In my work, I discuss my experience growing up in predominantly white spaces as a Black woman. I address concepts of my identity by contemplating how my environment influences my interests and how I move through life. Many institutions, such as academia and religion, teach us to believe there is a right and wrong way to exist, which is heavily rooted in anti-blackness. Given the complexity of the situations I often encounter, I use iconic imagery and cultural objects to represent a childhood I longed for but felt estranged. Now, by reclaiming my Blackness, I make sculptures that my younger self would have loved behind closed doors in an attempt to reconnect with the loss of a Black childhood. I like to think that these pieces exist somewhere in an alternate timeline where children of color are without stereotypes, blame, and violence. Through the lens of Afrofuturism, I want to place the Black experience at the forefront of my thought process by implementing my own lived experience and the experiences of those who look like me. I also consider my childhood as a way to understand my femininity and Blackness and what influence that has held in my exploration of my past, present, and future. I use clay as a medium to take on the role of creator of these fantasies to critique the culture in which I find myself participating. Ceramics is a craft-centered medium, so by utilizing it for a non-functional purpose, I subvert its intention by creating sculptures that can stand the test of time through a medium that lasts hundreds of thousands of years.

Peter Jeppson (b. 1985) is a visual artist from Stockholm, Sweden, working in figurative art. The graffiti background is sometimes visible in the bright contrasting colors and the humorous titles, as well as in the techniques used. The most apparent similarity between Peters's art and graffiti is the approach to art and how to create. It is experimental, anarchist, and naive, with vivid brush strokes and faded acrylics. This does not mean that the approach or the practice itself lacks seriousness, but rather an alternative to the cliché of the depressed, suffering creator.⁠ Concerning Peter's paintings and sculptures, some recurring influences and objects exist. Early cartoon-like figures are a significant source of inspiration, and for the past five years, a figure based on a cigarette or a pencil can be seen in most of the work. The shape of the cigarette and the pen are similar, and they can both symbolize Peter's self but, in the broader meaning, also life itself; the more you enjoy, the less remains.⁠

Amalia Angulo graduated from The Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design with a degree in fine art. Though she was born in Havana, Cuba, her family relocated to the Dominican Republic, where they lived for 20 years. Angulo's practice interrogates ⁠ human psychology through stylized vignettes of doll-like figures that masterfully tread between the idyllic and the unsettling. Depicting exaggerated and heavily sexualized bodies, her subjects confront us with disconcerting, wide-eyed gazes and stiff smiles. These saturated works aim to deconstruct notions of perfection and impose limitations of visually riffing⁠ on art history and other sources ranging from newspaper comic strips to mid-twentieth-century pin-ups. Angulo recently closed solo exhibitions at Sean Horton in New York, NY, and Hudson House in Hudson, NY, where she was also a resident artist. Other shows include those at Marvin Gardens & Best Western, Ridgewood, NY; Nader Gallery, Santo Domingo, DR; Casa de Teatro; Santo Domingo, DR. Angulo's work can be found in private collections across North and South America, Europe, and Asia.⁠

Sarina Claire is an artist based in Los Angeles. She received her BFA from the Art Center College of Design. "l use drawing to explore my mind and see what weird things lay within my subconscious. I draw obsessively and enter a trance-like state. The part of my process where I enter a trance-like consciousness is central to my practice. I'm always just as surprised as the viewer is by what comes out when I draw. Through drawing, I can further process my emotions, experiences with the supernatural, the dream world, and memory distortion and expand my consciousness. My drawings map an inner world that feels like a fever dream where the line between reality and fantasy is blurred."⁠

Vivien Ebright Chung (b. Santa Cruz, CA.) is a painter and curator currently living and working in⁠ Los Angeles, CA. She received her BFA from California College of the Arts San Francisco, studying painting and conceptual fashion. She worked extensively in theater and fashion before returning to painting in 2016. She is also the co-founder and Associate Director of False Cast Gallery, a program devoted to contemporary emerging painting based in San Diego and Los Angeles. She founded Seated Horses, a project dedicated to assemblage and post-consumerism. Her work has been shown at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Smoke the Moon NM, Quarters Gallery, Monte Vista Projects, and Barker Hangar LA, among others.⁠

Vintage Hollywood climbs to the heavens to act as the Gods. Surfaces are sheer and ethereal or sculptural and heavy with paint. Feelings of gossamer and clouds abound. Explorations of identity, human sexuality, bodily autonomy, and motherhood. All were painted within the last four months.⁠

Amanda Banker (b. 1979) was raised in Corrales, NM, where she spent her childhood making short animated films and feverishly drawing cartoon characters. She soon discovered oil paints and spent the next few years developing a portfolio in fine art. In 1998, she was accepted to the California Institute for the Arts but chose to pursue animation at Cal State Fullerton. This decision allowed Banker to fully immerse herself in traditional and computer animation, with the bonus of pitching storyboards to Disney, Nickelodeon, and Pixar. After college graduation, she began freelance storyboarding, character design, and illustration. Throughout this time, Banker continually worked at developing her unique style. After a decade in the animation industry, Banker moved home to pursue work as an oil painter. Her return to New Mexico was met with great success. Banker has been published extensively and shows exclusively in Santa Fe with Kouri + Corrao. Her work is included in several important private collections across the United States and is held in the permanent collection of the Albuquerque Museum (NM.)

The female characters, which I loosely based on 1920s tube animation designs, are lewd and sexual and appear bendable and boneless. Effectively, they become a new vision of the female nude, one that is no longer weak and demure but bold and lustful. My re-assessed nudes explore not only brazen female sexuality but also the representative limitations Western culture places on it. These characters are nestled among realistic items reminiscent of Dutch still-life paintings, resulting in a stark dichotomy between the nude and the environment. This polarity pushes the nude into the primary visual focus, forcing the viewer to encounter it. I further this bold focus using saturated colors and dynamic lighting.⁠

I include sketchy animated characters within this dichotomy, often surrounding the central figure. These imps embody chaos, vice, and inherent hedonism, which I chalk up to various aspects of the human psyche. They exert an implicit force on the main character and, in a sense, liberate them from sexual taboos.⁠