Hi, I'm Irene. I am from Chatsworth, California. I started taking painting lessons when I was eight years old, followed by high school advanced placement classes. Afterwards, I came to SAIC and have been here for the full four years for a BFA in Studio. During my time at SAIC, I've worked in animation, screenprinting, risograph, comics, and zine making before circle back to oil painting
Are you naturally curious or brave?
I am not sure about which career but I dip my toes into various passions of mine. I
enjoy making art in different mediums.
May I ask what is the content?
I focus on the supernatural and occult practices. My work is about angels and heaven, but by way of taking religious ideologies and putting them into more secular aesthetic.
My BFA work is about guardian angels. They're ritual objects.
There are individual beliefs about the virtual and some superstitions as well.
I have been thinking about them since freshman year, but they have gone through different phases. I am happiest with the way it is expressed within the past year. I am painting people I knew as angels and creating genderless characters to represent them, but I landed on a more universal, being, not human, but an entity of light and energy.
Angel Dagger II, 2020, air hardened clay, acrylic, and wire, 15 x 10 1/2 x 1 1/2 in.
Oh the language reminds me of Elijah Burgher's work, where the meaning of the sigils are private, but there is a nuanced difference of course. What artists inspire you?
I am interested in Emma Pride's 3d printed angel statues, Jean Paul Morabito's work and Craig Gleason's villain characters. My inspirations are mostly narrative based and from comics. I like going to house shows, outsider art and DIY space galleries. They offer different avenues to have you work seen.
What is it about painting?
I circled back into painting for the stability of the advanced painting studios.
Painting is what I started off doing and it is my favorite way of working. There is a freedom of imagery and scale. I can focus on one medium and go deep.
I have been thinking about comics now that I am outside of school. Being outside of school would give me time and ways to make screen printing back at home. Printing shirts and other printed apparel makes art accessible, because it is making affordable versions of artworks so friends can have pieces.
Angelic Intervention, 2019, oil paint on wooden panel and stretcher bars, 36 x 24 in.
What has been your favorite class/professor at SAIC?
Brian Rush’s screen printing course on Saturdays has been quite valuable to me! I enjoyed every single class. He’s such a great guy! He actually refuses to participate in social media. I learned a lot! He would come up and put music on for the class. I had a lot of fun! I listen to punk alternative rock and folk music.
Do you have an Instagram page you would like us to share?
Yes, my instagram is @greyveins
What has been your favorite part of being in Advanced Painting?
It was that the studio space was structured to three days a week of dedication, no assignments, just self driven art. My best work in art school was when I adapted the assignment to make it what I wanted and held wild. I found myself being productive.
Though during the first semester I felt anxious, because I was not sure of the expectations and how much to be making. I would look to see who is productive and who isn’t and try to keep up.
What is your sign, I am feeling some Capricorn energy?
I am a Capricorn for sure, with a moon in Pisces and Aries rising.
Has your work changed a lot through your time in Advanced Painting? Did the paintings come as they are, or did you just make more?
Yes, they improved more because of advanced painting. I made, repurposed, destroyed, painted over, experimented, failed and made good work. It gave me time to think conceptually, and I ended it with a breadth of work that felt like a collection.
Who were your advisors?
My advisors were Tyson Reeder, Mari Eastman and during my first semester they were Sam Jaffe and Josh Dihle - love him!
Do you see yourself making a comic about the dagger in the future?
The daggers are not in the comics yet, but I imagine they might be soon. My ideas for comics are centered on heaven world, the window, the angel, and bringing that realm into the physical space, as proposition of an alternate universe.
BFA 2020 installation