ARTIST STATEMENT
There is a specific moment when we suspend our disbelief and are seduced by an illusion. When this happens, we are not looking at something, but looking at ourselves perceiving it.
This exhibition psychoanalyzes the idea of the feminine. Understanding the varying psychological aspects of the feminine is crucial in allowing us to understand the ways in which society and women interact, the expectations put on women, any problematic stereotypical gender roles as well as the nuanced and multifaceted relations between women themselves. The paintings scintillate and fade between sinister and majestic, grotesque and imperial, exposing the emotional upheaval of cognitive dissonance and dissociation. Using obscured perspectives and subtle shifts of color saturation and temperature, the viewing experience becomes nuanced and introspective.
Zära Monet’s paintings also engage in a conversation with intersectional queer feminism, traditional voyueristic compositions, the male gaze and socio-sexual empowerment issues. Aesthetically, they illuminate an Old Master portrait style; the subjects are posed, the mood is dramatic, but they also exploit and contemporize it; the locus of composition is skewed, the light logic is reversed. Meticulously choreographing a dramatic dynamic between the subject and the space it occupies, the work is able to guide, critique and call into question the generic way a painting is received. The work is aimed to reify a psychological and reflexive viewing experience that ultimately transcends the viewer into an unknown consciousness.
BIOGRAPHY
Zära Monet’s paintings have been featured in LA Weekly, Huffington Post, Manifest, Juxtapoz and Beautiful Bizarre publications. She has been awarded sixteen solo shows and forty seven selected group exhibitions, including Museum of Art and History: Lancaster and Carnegie Art Museum: Oxnard. She has a BA from UCLA and an MFA from LCAD.
There is a specific moment when we suspend our disbelief and are seduced by an illusion. When this happens, we are not looking at something, but looking at ourselves perceiving it.
This exhibition psychoanalyzes the idea of the feminine. Understanding the varying psychological aspects of the feminine is crucial in allowing us to understand the ways in which society and women interact, the expectations put on women, any problematic stereotypical gender roles as well as the nuanced and multifaceted relations between women themselves. The paintings scintillate and fade between sinister and majestic, grotesque and imperial, exposing the emotional upheaval of cognitive dissonance and dissociation. Using obscured perspectives and subtle shifts of color saturation and temperature, the viewing experience becomes nuanced and introspective.
Zära Monet’s paintings also engage in a conversation with intersectional queer feminism, traditional voyueristic compositions, the male gaze and socio-sexual empowerment issues. Aesthetically, they illuminate an Old Master portrait style; the subjects are posed, the mood is dramatic, but they also exploit and contemporize it; the locus of composition is skewed, the light logic is reversed. Meticulously choreographing a dramatic dynamic between the subject and the space it occupies, the work is able to guide, critique and call into question the generic way a painting is received. The work is aimed to reify a psychological and reflexive viewing experience that ultimately transcends the viewer into an unknown consciousness.
BIOGRAPHY
Zära Monet’s paintings have been featured in LA Weekly, Huffington Post, Manifest, Juxtapoz and Beautiful Bizarre publications. She has been awarded sixteen solo shows and forty seven selected group exhibitions, including Museum of Art and History: Lancaster and Carnegie Art Museum: Oxnard. She has a BA from UCLA and an MFA from LCAD.
RESUME
EDUCATION
2014 MFA, Laguna College of Art and Design: Concentration in Painting
2010 BA, UCLA
SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITS
2023 The Ascending Feminine, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles
2019 Mandatory Intermission: LA Artcore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Overture: Eastern Projects Gallery Annex, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Reductive Overture: Madison Public Library, WI
2018 Prelude: B-Minus Studios, Santa Ana, CA
2018 Glamour Vomit: Moorpark College Gallery, CA
2017 Mezzanine: Dab Art: NAMBA Gallery, Ventura, CA
2017 Rehearsal: Arttrek Gallery: Thousand Oaks, CA
2016 Culmination: Vault Gallery: Hortenville, WI
2015 Cue: Sleeth Gallery: West Virginia Wesleyan College: Buckhannon, WV
2014 Staged: CES Contemporary Arts Foundation Gallery: Laguna, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Drink Me: Dab Art: H Gallery, Ventura, CA
2018 LA Art core Exhibition: LA Art Core Gallery at the Brewery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 World of Co: Residency: Sofia, Bulgaria
2018 Valentine: Eastern Projects Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
2018 A Feminist Perspective 4.0: Montalban Gallery: Hollywood, CA
2018 Featured Figures: Laguna Art Museum: Laguna Beach, CA
2017 Tribute to the Audubon: 101 Exhibit Gallery: Hollywood, CA
2017 Rainbow Shift Exhibit: LGBTQIA Artists: Montalban Gallery: Hollywood, CA
2017 We Choose Art: Feminist Exhibit: Montalban Gallery: Hollywood, CA
2017 Refractured: Ventura College Faculty Exhibition: VC Gallery, Ventura, CA
2017 Works in Abstraction: Atrium Gallery: Ventura, CA
2017 Defying Doyen: Dab Art: Atrium Gallery: Ventura, CA
2017 Bold and Beautiful: The Hillcrest Center for the Arts: Thousand Oaks, CA
2017 Material Interests: Ventura College Faculty Exhibition: VC Gallery, Ventura, CA
2016 Critters and Peeps: Q Art Salon Gallery: Santa Ana, CA
2016 Please to Meet Me: EMES and House of Wren Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Summer: The Fifth Column Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
2014 MFA Exhibition: Laguna Art Museum: Laguna Beach, CA
2014 Manifest: Fresh Paint: Creative Research Gallery: Cincinnati, Ohio
2013 Future Tense: CES Contemporary Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
2013 International Painting Annual: Creative Research Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2013 MFA Exhibition: Laguna City Hall: Laguna Beach, CA
2010 From the Window to the Wall: Charlie White Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
2010 UCLA Juried Exhibition: UCLA Charlie White Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
PUBLICATIONS
2018 Art in Sofia, Literary Review: World of Co Residency, Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 Huffington Post: Mat Gleason Review: 101 Exhibit Gallery, Hollywood, CA
2017 Circle Quarterly Arts Magazine: CFA Press, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Show Review: Peter Frank: 101 Exhibit Gallery, Hollywood, CA
2017 Art Bite Periodical: Feminist Exhibit: Los Angeles, CA
2017 Contemporary Painters: Tribute to the Audubon: Hollywood, CA
2016 Young Space Periodical: Appleton, WI
2015 Art in America Periodical: Los Angeles, CA
2014 Juxtapoz Periodical: San Francisco, CA
2013 Manifest International Painting Annual 4: Cincinnati, OH
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Artist in Residence: Carnegie Art Museum: Oxnard, CA 11. 2018 – 12. 2018
Artist in Residence: World of Co: Sofia, Bulgaria 05. 2018 – 07. 2018
Artist in Residence: Arttrek: Thousand Oaks, CA 11. 2016 – 12. 2017
Artist in Residence: Standard Projects: Hortonville, WI 09. 2016 – 11.2016
Artist in Residence: Laguna College of Art and Design: Laguna Beach, CA 06. 2015 – 09. 2015
Artist in Residence: West Virginia Wesleyan College: Buckhannon, WV 08. 2014 – 05. 2015
2014 MFA, Laguna College of Art and Design: Concentration in Painting
2010 BA, UCLA
SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITS
2023 The Ascending Feminine, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles
2019 Mandatory Intermission: LA Artcore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Overture: Eastern Projects Gallery Annex, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Reductive Overture: Madison Public Library, WI
2018 Prelude: B-Minus Studios, Santa Ana, CA
2018 Glamour Vomit: Moorpark College Gallery, CA
2017 Mezzanine: Dab Art: NAMBA Gallery, Ventura, CA
2017 Rehearsal: Arttrek Gallery: Thousand Oaks, CA
2016 Culmination: Vault Gallery: Hortenville, WI
2015 Cue: Sleeth Gallery: West Virginia Wesleyan College: Buckhannon, WV
2014 Staged: CES Contemporary Arts Foundation Gallery: Laguna, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Drink Me: Dab Art: H Gallery, Ventura, CA
2018 LA Art core Exhibition: LA Art Core Gallery at the Brewery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 World of Co: Residency: Sofia, Bulgaria
2018 Valentine: Eastern Projects Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
2018 A Feminist Perspective 4.0: Montalban Gallery: Hollywood, CA
2018 Featured Figures: Laguna Art Museum: Laguna Beach, CA
2017 Tribute to the Audubon: 101 Exhibit Gallery: Hollywood, CA
2017 Rainbow Shift Exhibit: LGBTQIA Artists: Montalban Gallery: Hollywood, CA
2017 We Choose Art: Feminist Exhibit: Montalban Gallery: Hollywood, CA
2017 Refractured: Ventura College Faculty Exhibition: VC Gallery, Ventura, CA
2017 Works in Abstraction: Atrium Gallery: Ventura, CA
2017 Defying Doyen: Dab Art: Atrium Gallery: Ventura, CA
2017 Bold and Beautiful: The Hillcrest Center for the Arts: Thousand Oaks, CA
2017 Material Interests: Ventura College Faculty Exhibition: VC Gallery, Ventura, CA
2016 Critters and Peeps: Q Art Salon Gallery: Santa Ana, CA
2016 Please to Meet Me: EMES and House of Wren Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Summer: The Fifth Column Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
2014 MFA Exhibition: Laguna Art Museum: Laguna Beach, CA
2014 Manifest: Fresh Paint: Creative Research Gallery: Cincinnati, Ohio
2013 Future Tense: CES Contemporary Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
2013 International Painting Annual: Creative Research Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2013 MFA Exhibition: Laguna City Hall: Laguna Beach, CA
2010 From the Window to the Wall: Charlie White Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
2010 UCLA Juried Exhibition: UCLA Charlie White Gallery: Los Angeles, CA
PUBLICATIONS
2018 Art in Sofia, Literary Review: World of Co Residency, Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 Huffington Post: Mat Gleason Review: 101 Exhibit Gallery, Hollywood, CA
2017 Circle Quarterly Arts Magazine: CFA Press, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Show Review: Peter Frank: 101 Exhibit Gallery, Hollywood, CA
2017 Art Bite Periodical: Feminist Exhibit: Los Angeles, CA
2017 Contemporary Painters: Tribute to the Audubon: Hollywood, CA
2016 Young Space Periodical: Appleton, WI
2015 Art in America Periodical: Los Angeles, CA
2014 Juxtapoz Periodical: San Francisco, CA
2013 Manifest International Painting Annual 4: Cincinnati, OH
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Artist in Residence: Carnegie Art Museum: Oxnard, CA 11. 2018 – 12. 2018
Artist in Residence: World of Co: Sofia, Bulgaria 05. 2018 – 07. 2018
Artist in Residence: Arttrek: Thousand Oaks, CA 11. 2016 – 12. 2017
Artist in Residence: Standard Projects: Hortonville, WI 09. 2016 – 11.2016
Artist in Residence: Laguna College of Art and Design: Laguna Beach, CA 06. 2015 – 09. 2015
Artist in Residence: West Virginia Wesleyan College: Buckhannon, WV 08. 2014 – 05. 2015