Visual Arts Lecture: Ari Salka

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Ari Salka (they/she/he) is a Seattle, Washington born, Los Angeles based artist working in writing, drawing, and painting. Salka holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from UCLA and a Bachelor of Fine arts degree in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They studied at the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art and received the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship. Salka has completed residencies at the Ox Bow School of Art in 2015 and 2013, as well as the Silver Arts Residency Social Justice & Activism.

Their solo exhibition, It Stands to Reason, Joy Still Exists, opened this past May at Euclid Gallery, to critical acclaim. Salka’s work was shown in numerous group exhibitions at SLIPPERS, QUEENS LA Gallery, NOMAD Torrance Art Museum, and the Tom of Finland Art & Culture Festival. Their work is featured in libraries and collections including the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), the UCLA Arts Library, and the ROSA KWIR Archive in Mosta, Malta.

Salka says about their work: “I paint self-portraits of my trans body, representing current and past selves. These bodies, these people, and sometimes lovers of past selves, are constantly shifting, through rebirths, enmeshing, while also differentiating from one another. Ghosts from the past emerge from earthly forms, signifying dysphoric rebirth and resurrection. Water is both weighted and buoyant, and the presence of sutures straddle fragility and strength. The self is oftentimes lost in translation, shifting in and out of differentiation from oneself to another version of self. Through repetition, expansiveness, and reclusiveness, my work battles distinctions between celebration and dismay.”

Sources: Ari Salka Official Website

Image: It Stands to Reason Joy Still Exists, Pigment, Resin, Enamel, Acrylic, and Oil on Canvas; 40 x 60 in.