STERLING WELLS
6115 Mesa Ave., Apt. 9
Los Angeles, CA 90042-3587
727 - 776 - 7891
sterlingfwells@gmail.com
sterlingwells.info
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
2018 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
2017 Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
Master of Fine Arts, Graduate Art
2007 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting
SOLO AND COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITIONS
2023 A New Flood, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2020 La Brea and the River, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Milk Plastic Incubator, LAMOA DS#3 at Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Maintain Disgust (with Haena Yoo), AWHRHWAR, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Pressure Drop (MFA Thesis Show), Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
2016 Fountain for Vernon, Vernon Gardens, Vernon, CA
Less World and Working World (with Haena Yoo), Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
2015 Broken Window, Metropolitan Structures, Baltimore, MD
Large Ear >PP+EPDM-TX10<, Lana’s, Brooklyn, NY
2012 A Structure to View Geological Time in Pictorial Space, A Slender Gamut, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS, PROJECTS, SCREENINGS
2024 Moved/ Displaced, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA (Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni show co-curated by Annette Cyr and Rebecca Shippee)
Hot Glue, presented by Night Gallery at NADA East Broadway, New York, NY
Out Yonder, Tyler Park Presents, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Plein Air (curated by Aurora Tang), MOCA Tucson, Tucson, AZ (traveled to the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA in 2023)
Shrubs, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Love in Bright Landscapes (curated by Annika Kristensen), Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, Western Australia
If it’s good for you, it’s fine by me (organized by Gracie Hadland), Real Pain, Los Angeles, CA
SUBSTRATA, EPOCH + LAMOA, Los Angeles, CA
2020 From Dallas to Baum Bridge (curated by Anna Frost), Los Angeles River, Los Angeles, CA
Majeure Force, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Grey Garden, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 La Biennale di Vista del Oro II (Curated by Santi Vernetti), Yard Pedro, San Pedro, CA
"An Ode To All That", screening of video works by sixteen ArtCenter Grad Art alumni spanning 1987-2018, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
2015 Water’s Shape, 308 at 156 Project Artspace, NY, NY
Finally Every Dimension of the Soil, American Medium, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Maspeth’s World of Wheels (MWOW) Auto Show Extravaganza, Knockdown Center, Maspeth, NY
I’ll Miss Your Garbage, Molasses Books, Brooklyn, NY
Search Results, A Slender Gamut, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Petrella’s Imports: Internet Protocol, petrellasimports.net
A Discourse on Plants, RH Gallery, New York, NY
FAIRS
2021 Frieze LA, Night Gallery
AWARD
2019 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant
SELECTED ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, PRESS
2023 FOX 11 Los Angeles Digital Team. "Floating artwork seen in Ballona Creek". Local FOX News story. June 6, 2023.
Matthew Rodriguez for KCAL NEWS. "Apparent homeless encampment found floating around Ballona Creek". Local CBS News story. June 6, 2023.
Matthew Rodriguez for KCAL NEWS. "Makeshift raft docked, removed after being spotted on Ballona Creek". Local CBS News story. June 7, 2023.
Mina, AX. "Staying Close to the Land with Plein Air Painting". Hyperallergic. September 18, 2023.
Cascone, Sarah. "Artist Sterling Wells Built a Floating Studio in Order to Paint the View from L.A.’s Ballona Creek. Then the City Demolished It". Artnet. July 19, 2023.
Keenan, Annabel. "LA Artist’s Floating Painting Studio Removed by Local Officials". Hyperallergic. June 29, 2023.
2022 Trimble, Lynn. "Review: Plein Air Challenges Assumptions and Aesthetics at MOCA Tucson”. Southwest Contemporary. June 17, 2022
Votang, Thao. “Plein Air Is a Sobering Reminder of Human Impact on the Environment”. Hyperallergic. August 20, 2022
Yang, Catherine. “Pick of the Week: Shrubs”. Artillery Magazine. January 26, 2022
2021 Kirkman, Kim.“Tales of two sun-bleached cities”. Seesaw Magazine. August 3, 2021
Osberg, Annabel. “Spelunking Through “Substrata” at EPOCH Gallery”. AEQAI. February 20, 2021
Preston Zappas, Lindsay. “‘Substrata’ at Epoch Gallery”. KCRW. January 26, 2021
The Art Newspaper’s XR Panel. “Memories of Myst: Substrata, a new artist-run virtual exhibition, is like entering a magical afterlife”. The Art Newspaper. March 12, 2021
2017 Kissik, Dean. "the best young artist-run spaces and galleries in los angeles". i-d.vice.com. December 4, 2017
2015 Ober, Cara. “Interview with Sterling Wells by Jan Razauskasc. BmoreArt. October 17, 2015
2013 Meier, Alison. “EMERGING: Artist Sterling Wells Creates Post-Natural Landscape Paintings”. BLOUIN Artinfo. January 17, 2013
Truax, Stephen. “New Art Spaces in the Bushwick Area, Part 1”. Hyperallergic. January 9, 2013
2012 Chapline, John and Lorraine Nam. “Studio Visit: Sterling Wells- Red Hook”. #FFFFFF Walls. May 30, 2012
COLLECTIONS
University Hospital, San Antonio, TX
New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY