Avery Wheless is a multidisciplinary artist who received a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Wheless was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1993, and raised in Petaluma, CA. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
Wheless' energetic and tender paintings crafted with an Expressionist sensibility, portray the female form in play, leisure, solitude, agony; and ecstasy. Her work coyly alludes to notions of existence as the ultimate proverbial stage, while concurrently juxtaposing notions of “presence” as differentiating physical, emotional, and psychological states. Working simultaneously as a video artist, the movement of bodies across her paintings has origins in Wheless’s past life of rigorous ballet training. Delicate movements command power and space, both on film and on the canvas.
Wheless had her first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, “So does everybody else” debuted at Rusha & Co. in 2023. Her work has also been exhibited at The Pit, Los Angeles, CA; Ochi Gallery, Sun Valley, ID; Superzoom, Paris, FR; Christie’s UNICEF Auction, Los Angeles, CA; Sow and Tailor/K11 Musea, Hong Kong; G/ART/EN Gallery, Como, Italy; Bozo Mag, Los Angeles CA and “Suggested Followers” curated by Jerry Gagosian at Sotheby’s, NY.