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Megan Whitmarsh (artwork images) graduated with a BFA in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1993. She completed her MFA studies at the University of New Orleans in 1997 with the aid of a full fellowship. Upon graduating she migrated to Williamsburg, Brooklyn where she magnified the role of embroidery in her art. Concurrently, she made short films, comics and played keyboards in band: “The Hong Kong”. In 2000 she returned to California and made Highland Park, Los Angeles her home. Whitmarsh has lately exhibited her art and films in galleries such as: HaNNa (NYC and Tokyo), Parlour Projects (Brooklyn), Andrew Kreps (NYC), HERE art (NYC), Deluxe Projects (Chicago), Jody Monroe Gallery (Milwaukee), the General Store (Milwaukee), Millicent Gallery (Los Angeles) and the Texas Ballroom (Chicago). She makes a comic “Snow Monkeys” and various merchandise under the moniker “Tiny Industries”. Rachell Sumpter, (artwork images) born in 1972 in Los Angeles, graduated with a BFA with Honors on a full scholarship in April 2003 from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Early exposure to art as the granddaughter of a children’s book artist contributed to her skill and understanding of creating narrative paintings. Sumpter has a love for creating imagery that encourages the viewer to create his/her own point of reference and relationship to each individual piece. Her work has been shown in Portland, Bristol UK, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Michigan, and Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her steady stream of commercial illustration clients include Chronicle Books, YM Magazine, The Boston Globe, HarperCollins, Bust Magazine, among others. |
This
April, sixspace is proud to host an exhibition of new works by two
emerging Los Angeles artists, Megan Whitmarsh and
Rachell Sumpter. Although each artist is exploring
differing mediums, both have an interest in narrative storytelling
expressed through their characters. Whitmarsh will present her exquisite
embroidery on fabric pieces that combine this traditional medium
with depictions of elements in pop-culture such as yetis and battling
elf girls. While the size of her work ranges from small to large,
her characters remain tiny and detailed, forcing the viewer to literally
peer into her worlds. Sumpter, part of the new school of illustration,
will be exhibiting paintings on paper using gouache, ink and watercolor.
Her work has been described as "…delicate ink lines,
and subtle attention to detail complement and subvert the lightness
of her drawings” and her “icon-like imagery resembles....children's
books found in antique stores, but with a modernist composition
and adult subject matter”.