Maureen Paley is pleased to present the first solo exhibition at the gallery by Esther Pearl Watson. Watson, based in Los Angeles, grew up in a series of small towns outside of Dallas, Texas with her siblings, mother, and flying saucer-building father, Gene, who aspired to influencing NASA with his prototypes.
Her father and the nomadic aspects of her childhood inspire her series of 'memory paintings’. She creates pictures on board and paper depicting farmland, highways, oil rigs, payday loan storefronts, playgrounds and parking lots. They contain a brief diaristic description inscribed on the corner of each painting as well as her ubiquitous flying saucers which illuminate the scenes.
Esther Pearl Watson lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. Her paintings have been exhibited worldwide, including the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, USA (2015). In 2013 she was Artist-in-Residence at Grafikiens Hus, Mariefred, Sweden. Her award-winning comic Unlovable is published in Bust Magazine and with Fantagraphics. She has published Blood Lady Commandos on Vice online and Welcome to Crapland on Adult Swim online. She has taught at Oxbow Artist Residency, The Lexicon of Sexicana at Columbia College in Chicago, and is currently teaching at ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California.