Jennifer Celio
My interdisciplinary artworks manipulate perception, creating fantastical iterations in which artificial and natural imagery fuse to become newly impossible realities. Referencing the crisis level threat of environmental degradation, the works conjure seemingly mundane situations that have been artificially altered or supercharged. They speak to entangled lines of inquiry into exotic animal trophy hunting, family ties and secrets, the potent influence of pop culture in childhood, and the pressing urgency of an ecological tipping point.
In assemblage sculptures, mixed media paintings, drawings, and installations, I weave disparate components and techniques while alluding to humanity’s impact upon natural ecosystems. The pieces include beach trash, salvaged objects, discards, and personal effects in order to minimize my use of new materials while playing with conversations between these objects and more traditional art-making media. I juxtapose natural with man-made elements to illustrate the invasive tendencies of human civilization. Without blatantly depicting nature as being “under-siege” by modernity, the aim is to capture the imbalance created when nature tries to reclaim or adapt to man’s encroachment.
Jennifer Celio is a native of Southern California who loves Long Beach. Her work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at Cristinerose Gallery and Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts in New York City; elephant art space, Haphazard Gallery and the Creative Artists’ Agency in Los Angeles, CA; La Estacion Gallery in Chihuahua, Mexico; romo gallery in Atlanta, GA; Bandini Art in Culver City, CA; California State University Dominguez Hills in Carson, CA; Moorpark College in Moorpark, CA; and Phantom Galleries in Long Beach, CA. Her drawings represented the Southern California region in the 2015 biennial at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Her work has also been in group exhibits in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Houston; and Berlin, London, Mexico, Colombia, Greece, Istanbul, and Canada; and in other museum exhibits in San Francisco, Long Beach, Laguna Beach, and Indianapolis, IN. She is the recipient of individual artist grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2012) and The City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (2014.) She has received residencies from Yaddo (N.Y.), and the Long Beach Museum of Art (CA.) She has a B.F.A. from Cal State Fullerton (1996.)
Her interdisciplinary artwork has received critical review in such publications as The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Art Papers, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Art Ltd. Magazine, Artillery Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine, Fabrik Magazine, Beautiful/Decay, The Huffington Post, Flavorpill, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
