BIO

Annie Arnold earned her Bachelors of Art in Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin, and her Masters of Fine Arts degree from the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas. As an artist, she is compelled by the social and cultural phenomena of impression management, self-display, and the “DIY” pursuit of celebrity, including both personal and cultural acts of narcissism. Her career highlights include: being selected for New American Paintings by Andrea Karnes - curator at the Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, participating in the Creative Capital Professional Development Program, and raising money for and wearing fabulous, silvery chiffon Christian Louboutin platform booties. Wanna see the shoes? click here.

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ARTIST STATEMENT

• My work is rooted in the social and cultural phenomena of impression management, self-display, and the “DIY” pursuit of celebrity, including both personal and cultural acts of narcissism. I seek to create a context through which I can be both an exemplar and a purveyor of ”good taste.” However, I find myself constantly repelled by and envious of those whose level of indulgence and self-importance greatly exceeds my own.
• I am interested in using my own art production as research for shortcuts to the glamorous, elite life for which I hope. My practice focuses on fashion and fame as transformation agents, and highlights the tangible benefits of having a highly developed aesthetic sense. Borrowing from available social media and fashion magazines, I incorporate found images and phrases into my work. The phrases I find often come from women’s interest magazines. This is important to me because the statements weren’t uttered in passing, or in a private context. They were said, then vetted, then edited, then published, which, to me, exaggerates the vanity inherent in them. I use found images because again I am interested in choices. I highlight the decisions people make about the kinds of impressions we hope to make on one another, then I play on the disconnect that sometimes happens between the intended message and the message that is received.