Ayin Es: THIS LAND

About

Through a series of oil paintings, watercolors, and preliminary drawings, Es expresses their sense of play in an attempt to change the conventional perspective of ownership of property by removing the limitations of how we formalize these ideas.

By addressing the meaning of place and belonging, they are asking questions in the most psychological sense. What does it mean to occupy the desert, and whose land is it anyway? In their work, they suggest we instead hold the land in the limitlessness of our imagination where we can build upon its curiousness and visual possibilities. By looking into this otherworldly terrain, maybe we can find room to "possess" freedom rather than domination or control over land. Isn't it this point of view that attracts folks to come to the high desert in the first place?

Since we are all stewards of the land, we should all be accountable for its wellbeing. Monetarily retaining ownership seems almost as absurd and abstract as possessing an acre of the galaxy. Essentially, enjoying our presence in the here and now is an experience that cannot live on a piece of paper, as these are holdings of the heart to explore within our psyche.

Now a permanent resident of Joshua Tree, California, Los Angeles native Ayin Es, known for their storytelling artwork and Artist's books, is widely collected by prominent collections, such as the Getty, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Brooklyn Museum, and UC San Francisco Precision Cancer Center. They are a two-time recipient of the Durfee ARC Grant, won grants from the National Arts and Disability Center, a Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, the Wynn Newhouse Award, and the Bruce Geller Memorial Award from the American Jewish University. Their work has been reviewed in Artillery, LA Times, ArtScene, LA WEEKLY, ArtLTD, Art&Cake, and WhiteHot Magazine.