Biography & Statement
Biography
Adrianna Speer is a visual artist and educator living in Youngsville, Louisiana. She received her BFA in Painting and Drawing from Louisiana State University and her MFA in Studio Art from Louisiana Tech University. Her work has been exhibited nationally in venues including Site: Brooklyn in Brooklyn, NY, Verum Ultimum Gallery in Portland, OR, Las Lagunas Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, and Jag Gallery in Key West, FL. She has attended national and international residency programs such as Taleamor Park in Indiana, Burren College of Art in Ireland, and Atelier de la Rose in France.
Recent awards, exhibitions, and publications include Art Show International's Finalist Award, Tubac Center of the Arts Merit Award, Indianapolis Art Center's Throughlines: Contemporary Drawing in IN, Gallery One's Undomesticated in WA, Dab Arts Co.'s QUARTERLY Winter 2023 Issue, and Gallerium's 2022 The Book of Arts: Extinction. She and her collaborator and partner, Jacob Newton, were awarded the 2024 Denis Diderot and Emerging Artist grants to attend the Château d'Orquevaux Artists & Writers Residency in France. Speer is a foundations and visual arts faculty member of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and South Louisiana Community College.
Statement
My paintings serve as snapshots of moments rather than specific scenes or locations, blending memory, emotion, and collected imagery from various sources. Employing a mixed media approach and diverse application techniques, each composition becomes a personal narrative exploring themes of social commentary, sentimentality, mischievousness, and satire. My creative process involves a deep dive into the intricacies of places, cultures, visual language, and politics, culminating in a commentary on the essence of selfhood and existentialism.
Drawing from empirical studies, personal experiences, and online sources, I create compositions that blend stereotypes with observations. My practice references traditional painting methods and contemporary two-dimensional media discourse as I use techniques ranging from en plein air painting to studio-based mixed media painting and digital collage. I aim to capture the complexity of everyday life in the twenty-first century, inviting viewers to explore the intersection of the mundane and the sublime.