Arielle Austin

28 December 2018 Sensiblity Leave a comment 2067 Views Leave review

Arielle Austin

Austin, TX

Slow Contemplation, Acrylic, charcoal, pastel on canvas, 24 x 18 inches, 2019, $700

BIOGRAPHY + ARTIST STATEMENT

Arielle Austin is an Abstract painter based in Austin, TX. Arielle began her painting practice while completing her BA in Graphic Design from California State University Northridge in 2013. Initially used as a tool for personal therapy and spiritual connectedness, Austin’s process based work explores the intimate relationship between subject and viewer. It’s a practice in staying present, while resolving abstract plays on color, composition, and texture. In experimenting with this process, Austin compels the viewer to take a closer look—to become intimate with the art, resembling our very own human nature and desire. To be fully seen and known. In addition to refining her own practice, Arielle can also be found leading Abstract painting workshops for adults, as well as teaching through The Contemporary Austin’s Seeing Things program. Her work has been exhibited at The George Washington Carver Museum, The Carver in San Antonio, Gallery 440 in Fort Worth, and Saatchi’s The Other Art Fair in Dallas.

ARTIST STATEMENT

What is home? Home isn’t always so definitive; a conglomerate of layers. My pieces examine aspects of home, whether pertaining to the body, the domesticity of an apron, or even within an object hanging on a wall. In my work, I explore themes of identity, labor, and connection, frequently within queer spaces and my Filipinx-American culture.

Trans Lives 2019 is part of an on-going series about transgender murders with its focus giving a face to trans and gender non-confirming people that have been killed in the US. Red portraits embroidered on gauze, symbolize the literal and figurative bleeding that has and is happening within this community. Gauze, left white, is utilized to illustrate the delicate fabric of life. The “bleeding” continues with the red fabric backing that flows to the floor.

Miscegenation Made Me display a young image of my parents with an appropriated image of a 1930’s anti-Filipino poster. Manila envelopes namesake’s history with abaca fiber connects me to a part of my Filipino culture and a part of American history that throws away culture. We balance between these social constructs and what is true to self. Do we feel at home? Maybe sometimes we do; maybe it's a part of the questions we keep asking ourselves everyday.