Annie Ita

My work is an expression of my existential and personal pain through an escapist fantastical realm that I make real with clay and paint. I’m interested in character design, and in particular how to use character design to communicate the paradox of living in spite of the inherent meaninglessness of life. Though I don’t believe human beings have an inherent or divine purpose in life, I think choosing to laugh and make art and fuck and dance in spite of everything is the proper way to live a fulfilling life. I want to communicate this by making characters that are objectively ridiculous, garish, and funny, but that look too unsettling or that say something too off-putting to be entirely humorous. I want my work to exist in an ambiguous state between satirical and serious, and I hope to learn about the paradoxes that make up our lives when I create my work. My artistic practice comes from finding the balance between guiding my creations towards their conception, and letting my work guide me in return. This is how I learn from making.

I work in a wide range of mediums including ceramics, print, drawing, wire, textiles, collage, and performance. Keeping myself open to using multiple mediums ensures than a given concept I’m trying to realize is carried out in the most appropriate material. Working in multiple disciplines lets me look at one problem or concept from different angles. I also like combining mediums that don’t traditionally go together (like wire and fabric, or painting and ceramics) to create pieces that reach beyond the limitations of one medium working alone.

It has become increasingly impossible for me to ignore the pandemic as I write this statement and as I move through the world as an artist. Though this series started in my senior year, long before the pandemic hit, it has been changed and shaped by this massive shift in our lives. To a greater degree than ever before, art is how I reach out and touch other people. In a time when physical proximity and connection to others is dangerous, it is imperative for me to reach out in whatever ways I still can. I say things with art I do not know how to say in any other language. This is how I speak, how I listen, how I laugh, how I cry, how I justify my existence to myself and others. If you see this work and like it, I hope it inspires you to make your own art. If you see this work and hate it, I hope it inspires you to make your own art. When you engage with my art you are listening to my voice, and for that I am grateful. For as long as it is within my power I will be here as a mirror for you too, I will witness your art, and I will talk back. I think this is the greatest kindness we can offer each other as humans: to witness and confirm each other’s realities. Thank you for being here to witness mine.