Five Essays on Klee, 2022
Oil on canvas
14 in. x 11 in. / 35.56 cm. x 27.94 cm.

Jess(ica) Valice is a Los Angeles-based figurative painter recognized for her melancholic, big-eared, and doe-eyed figures. Focussing on the human condition, Valice’s oil paintings and charcoal or oil stick drawings explore the parables of the animalistic gaze. Her figurative works combine within one framework the romantic and the forlorn, the recognizable and mysterious, the religious and irreverent, and extreme subjectivity of content with forms sternly objective. The artist’s interest stems from her childhood negligence of religious involvement, yet instant attraction to the liturgical artwork adorned in places of worship. Valice’s figures share similar features to the face and body of the artist with seemingly uncomfortable or exhausted bearings in sometimes congenial environments.

Valice (b. 1996) studied art in grade school but went on to pursue an education in neuroscience at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC). After three years into her education, she decided to end her path in science to pursue painting. Self-taught, Valice now showcases her work with various galleries, including Carl Kostyal Gallery (London, Milan, Sweden) and Stems Gallery (Paris, Brussels).

Courtesy of the artist (@jessvalice)

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