estherpearlwatson@gmail.com
Represented by:
Los Angeles:
Vielmetter
1700 S. Santa Fe Ave. #101
Los Angeles, CA 90021vielmetter.com
213-623-3280
olivia@vielmetter.com
New York:
Andrew Edlin Gallery
212 Bowery, New York, NY 10012
212-206-9723
info@edlingallery.com
Texas:
Webb Gallery
209 W. Franklin
Waxahachie, TX 75165webbartgallery.com
972-938-8085
julie@webbartgallery.com
UK:
Maureen Paley
60 Three Colts Lane
London
E2 6 GQ
Morena Di Luna
3 Adelaide Crescent
Hove, BN 32JD
maureenpaley.com
+44 (0)20 7729 4112
info@maureenpaley.com
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1973, Esther Pearl Watson lives and works in Joshua Tree, California. She earned her BFA from Art Center College of Design (1995) and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts (2012).
Her semi-autobiographical works explore the complexities of growing up economically precarious in rural Texas. Her compositions, speckled with bright, glittering objects, often UFOs, might appear playful but reveal the bleak aspects of her family’s efforts to pursue the American dream. Many of her “memory paintings”, include highly detailed and diaristic vignettes from her childhood that often reference having a father who built space-ships in their backyard.
Her paintings have been featured in numerous international exhibitions, reflecting a wide geographic and institutional reach. Recent exhibitions include “Bombois by Anholt” at Galerie Judin, Berlin (2025) and “Generating Auras” at Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York (2024), Watson’s paintings have been exhibited at Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas (2015), as well as group exhibitions in 2023 such as “At Heaven’s Edge: Visions” at Museum Krona, Netherlands, and “Starship Pegasus” at Antonio Colombo Gallery, Milan, alongside presentations in Idaho, Texas, and California.
Her work has been recognized in Artforum’s “Critic’s Picks,” and has been included in major art fairs such as Frieze London, NY and LA and Art Basel Miami.
Esther Pearl Watson’s practice spans painting, collage, drawing, comics, and zines while narrating the melodrama of her distinct American life.
Her three volume graphic novel, Unlovable has been published by Fantagraphics and was chosen for Best American Comics by Harry Pekar and later Jonathan Lathem. She was comic Artist-in-Residence at Grafikiens Hus, Mariefred, Sweden (2013).
Both her paintings and comics are humorous and melancholic, Watson’s works cite the history of folk art and draw out a specific pathos inherent in what has traditionally been viewed as an outsider aesthetic.
EDUCATION
2012 MFA, California Institute of the Arts, USA
1995 BFA, Art Center College of Design, USA
EXHIBITIONS
2026
July, Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA2025
Bombois by Anholt, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany
2024
Texas Tornados, Antonio Colombo Gallery, Milan, Italy
At Heaven’s Edge: Visions, Museum Krona, Uden, Netherlands
Modern Folk, Chefas Projects, Portland, OR
Generating Auras, Oct 25 - December 20, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
Flying saucer artwork used for Outsider Art Fair signage, social media and stickered across the entrace doors at the OAF. (Special Project)
2023
A Very Luminous Vision, Vielmetter, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
Sightings, Sun Valley Museum of Art, Ketchum, USA
Rituals of Devotion, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, USA
Perpetual Portrait, Vielmetter Los Angeles, Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
2022
Guardian of Eden, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, USA (solo)
An Apparent Brightness, Maureen Paley: Morena di Luna, Hove, UK (solo)
The Amory Show, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, USA
Plants Now!, Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2021
Safer at Home: Pandemic Paintings, The Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Dust it Off, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas, USA
Esther Pearl Watson, Vielmetter, Los Angeles, California, USA
2020
Safer at Home: Pandemic Paintings, Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles, California, USA (solo)
Words of encouragement, Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles, California, USA (online exhibition)
20 Years, Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA
‘Pop Up Magazine: Winter 2020 Issue’, a touring ‘live magazine’ featuring Esther Pearl Watson with performances at Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California, USA; The Theatre at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles, California, USA; Lincoln Theatre, Washington, DC, USA; BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn, New York, USA; Ogden Theatre, Denver, Colorado, USA; Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and Hogg Auditorium, Austin, Texas, USA (special project)
2019
Dream Believer, University of Wisconsin – Parkside, Wisconsin (solo)
Dream Believer touring: South Texas College, Texas
MOTHERSHIP, Maureen Paley, London (solo)
2018
Tire Universe, Suzanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
April 14, 1561, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, USA
Pop-Up Shop, GURU GALERIA, Mexico City
Good Job Dream Achiever, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas, USA
2017
Blackhole Blowout, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas, USA (solo)
Starship Pegasus, Antonio Columbo Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
Now More Than Ever, LACE Benefit Art Auction, Los Angeles, USA
For the Good Times, Sp(a)ce, Pasadena, USA
2016
Galactic Plains, Gregorio Escalante Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
Hearsay, Artists Reveal Urban Legends, Los Jo Cos Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2015
New Works, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas, USA (solo)
The Future Arrives, Galleri Galleberg, Norway (solo)
Atrium, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, USA (special project)
2014
It’s Not a Circus Without a Big Top, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas, USA
Sky, Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, USA
2012
Hidden Behind the Stars, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas, USA (solo)
Fort Beavatron, CalArts Mint Gallery, Valencia, Los Angeles, USA
Permanent Collection, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, USA
Cal/Arts MFA Graduate Exhibition, LA Mart, Los Angeles, USA
2011
CalArts Main Gallery, Valencia, California, USA
Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, USA
Land Of Magic, Lesher Center for the Arts, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, USA
2010
New Works, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas, USA (solo)
2009
Visions of the Future, Billy Shire Fine Art, Culver City, USA (solo)
Texas Instruments, Domy, Austin, Texas, USA (solo)
2008
3rd Annual LA Weekly Biennial, Track 16, Los Angeles, USA
Failure, The Lab at Belmar, Lakewood, Colorado, USA
Blab Show!, Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
LA Paint, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California, USA
2007
The Weirding Field, La Luz De Jesus, Los Angeles, California, USA (solo)
2006
What I Remember, Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery, Pasadena, California, USA (solo)
2005
Keep on Laughing, Katherine Mulherin Contemporary art Projects, Toronto, Canada
RESIDENCIES
2019
100W Corsicana, Graphic Novel Residency, Coriscana, Texas, USA
2013
Grafikens Hus, Artist in Residence, Gripsholms Castel; Mariefred, Sweden
PUBLICATIONS
2020
Safer at Home: Pandemic Paintings 2020, Texas, USA
Galactic Halo, Self Published in Los Angeles, CA
2018
Unlovable, MISMA, France
2014
Unlovable Volume 3, Fantagraphics Books, Seattle, Washington, USA
2013
DoppoTuttoMax Volume 3, Mimsa, France
2010
Unlovable Volume 2, Fantagraphics Books, Seattle, Washington, USA
2009
Unlovable, Volume 1, Fantagraphics Books, Seattle, Washington, USA
2008
Romeo & Juliet, Blue Q Books, USA
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA, USA
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all artwork copyright Esther Pearl Watson 2024