The work of Chelsea Culprit explores gender performance and the performance of gender in the labor market. The artist reinvents subjects and techniques of historical painting, recoding the latent symbols of patriarchy toward an expanded social imaginary. Composed of feelings as much as descriptions, Culprit’s work entangles representations of the body’s capacity for work, play, display, expression, the performed authenticity of identity, and the intractability of freedom and personal bondage. Moving freely between the pictorial imagery of folk art and the materiality of the real world, the artist works variously with painting, neon light, sculptural assemblage, and installation. Chelsea Culprit (b. 1984 in Paducah, KY) lives and works between Mexico City, Mexico, and New York, NY. Recent solo exhibitions include Malas Madres, Lulu, Mexico City; Fear of Seduction, Queer Thoughts at Maureen Paley, London; DMing Purgatory, Queer Thoughts, New York; Fishnets, Uma Certa Falta de Coerencia, Porto; Right to Remain Elegant, Galeria La Esperanza at Barba Azul, Mexico City; and Miss Universe, Yautepec, Mexico City. Culprit’s work featured in recent group exhibitions at TANK Shanghai, Shanghai; Museo Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Warsaw; Revolver Gallery, Lima; Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; and Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City. Her work was acquired by the Dallas Museum of Art during the 2023 Dallas Art Fair.
[excerpted from Morán Morán Gallery website: www.moranmorangallery.com]