Emotional Support Paintings
All works completed in 2022. Artist statement below.
Paintings are on display with Brea Gallery July 23rd - September 16th, 2022.
Paintings are on display with Brea Gallery July 23rd - September 16th, 2022.
Punk Rock Looks Different Now, oil on linen, 60x40" Ingrid V. Wells 2022
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
You're Here and I'm Here and That's Worth Celebrating, oil on linen, 60x40" Ingrid V. Wells 2022
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
For Your Darkest Days, oil on linen, 60x40" Ingrid V. Wells 2022
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
The Thing Is, oil on linen, 60x40" Ingrid V. Wells 2022
(Title based on a poem by Ellen Bass)
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
(Title based on a poem by Ellen Bass)
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
A Painting About Magical and Invisible Things, oil on linen, 60x40" Ingrid V. Wells 2022
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
Oh Hello! (Making a Loud, Glittering Entrance to the Boys Club and Calling the Meeting to Order), oil on linen, 60x40" Ingrid V. Wells 2022
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
To inquire about the availability of this painting and other work please contact breagallery@gmail.com
Statement
Relating to this exhibition with Brea Gallery, I would like to come out as a joymaker, showing up in the form of an artist. What we have here with this group exhibition is a rare combination of joymakers occupying the same space and for that I would like to thank our amazing curator and the team at Brea Gallery. Thank you for being attune to the needs of your community, for recognizing the need for joy in this specific moment and assembling the Care-Bear-artists from across the country necessary to do the work - the wildly fun work (note my math below), of making art in the service of others - in service of their joy.
As a joymaker I see it as my duty, my R&D, to peel back the curtain of trauma, to sit in it, roll around in it, get joyful despite it, to have my Rocky arms in the air - hell yes I made it through, kinda thing, moment. It is a fierce rebellion, I consider it pretty punk rock, to stay in your joy when surrounded by darkness. I’m talking about the work* of radical self-compassion and thus radical compassion for others. I’m talking about making political change, and speaking to the opponent's inner child. For example, we cannot touch the inner child of Bretty K.** over there in DC, cannot stir something in him, transform him from hater to a #1 Varsity Cheer squad leader if we do not first - 1) understand how to speak to our own inner children, 2) understand how & practice speaking to the inner children of our haters, 3) assemble with fellow joymakers to begin the discussion 4) delight in solving the puzzle and doing so with great care, with radical compassion - along the lines of when Mr. Rogers advocated for Public Television funding (masterful).
I see my role as a joymaker as needing to comb through everything in my purview with my Harriet the Spy-style detective magnifying glass. I find joy in solving difficult problems, very hard puzzles. As a joymaker it’s my role to seek out the joy, identify the joy, enlarge it, and spread it. The oil on linen paintings in this collection are based on confetti, blown up to a 60 x 40" scale, with the collection title Emotional Support Paintings as a nod to the need for support and joy in this moment in America.
In order to overcome our shared challenges (and we have some big ones mmkay), we have to become joymakers first, before any other title. It is crucial, challenging brave work to show up with pride, with bold color, to be visible when doing this work - fully aware that joymakers have been historically misunderstood and outright dismissed. Their records, not kept. Their histories, not documented.
So I implore you to go down the rabbit hole of discovering and following your curiosities - of unlocking the video game-style level-up moments within yourself, and finding delight in where that takes you. In having your own “roll around it, hands in the air Rocky-the-champ” moment with your joy. It’s crucial work, and it’s crucial we do this together now. Like omg right now.
A Moment for Math
If:
fun = artmaking
And:
artmaking = *work
Then:
*Work = fun
Also true:
If:
fun = artmaking
And:
artmaking = hard/ difficult
Then:
hard/ difficult = fun
Doing hard things is fun.
Keep your mind out of the gutter, this is a public venue, honestly.
**current member of the he-man-woman-hater’s club - aka Spanky.
As a joymaker I see it as my duty, my R&D, to peel back the curtain of trauma, to sit in it, roll around in it, get joyful despite it, to have my Rocky arms in the air - hell yes I made it through, kinda thing, moment. It is a fierce rebellion, I consider it pretty punk rock, to stay in your joy when surrounded by darkness. I’m talking about the work* of radical self-compassion and thus radical compassion for others. I’m talking about making political change, and speaking to the opponent's inner child. For example, we cannot touch the inner child of Bretty K.** over there in DC, cannot stir something in him, transform him from hater to a #1 Varsity Cheer squad leader if we do not first - 1) understand how to speak to our own inner children, 2) understand how & practice speaking to the inner children of our haters, 3) assemble with fellow joymakers to begin the discussion 4) delight in solving the puzzle and doing so with great care, with radical compassion - along the lines of when Mr. Rogers advocated for Public Television funding (masterful).
I see my role as a joymaker as needing to comb through everything in my purview with my Harriet the Spy-style detective magnifying glass. I find joy in solving difficult problems, very hard puzzles. As a joymaker it’s my role to seek out the joy, identify the joy, enlarge it, and spread it. The oil on linen paintings in this collection are based on confetti, blown up to a 60 x 40" scale, with the collection title Emotional Support Paintings as a nod to the need for support and joy in this moment in America.
In order to overcome our shared challenges (and we have some big ones mmkay), we have to become joymakers first, before any other title. It is crucial, challenging brave work to show up with pride, with bold color, to be visible when doing this work - fully aware that joymakers have been historically misunderstood and outright dismissed. Their records, not kept. Their histories, not documented.
So I implore you to go down the rabbit hole of discovering and following your curiosities - of unlocking the video game-style level-up moments within yourself, and finding delight in where that takes you. In having your own “roll around it, hands in the air Rocky-the-champ” moment with your joy. It’s crucial work, and it’s crucial we do this together now. Like omg right now.
A Moment for Math
If:
fun = artmaking
And:
artmaking = *work
Then:
*Work = fun
Also true:
If:
fun = artmaking
And:
artmaking = hard/ difficult
Then:
hard/ difficult = fun
Doing hard things is fun.
Keep your mind out of the gutter, this is a public venue, honestly.
**current member of the he-man-woman-hater’s club - aka Spanky.
All works documented courtesy of Artbot Photography.