Overview

My work is not representative of our external; instead it is about our (Black) bodies, experiences, traumas & triumphs, healing, & identities from an internal perspective. Each piece is a part of the body, psyche, and soul turned inside out; the intimate recesses, fault lines, eroded sediment, gravity wells, multitudes, & universes we contain as we navigate a society that judges us by what can be seen with the eye.

 

— A’Driane Nieves

A’Driane Nieves was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1982.

 

A visual artist and writer, A’Driane Nieves is a U.S. Air Force veteran and the founder of an arts nonprofit and art magazine.Nieves is a self-taught painter of over a decade. At the urging of her therapist, she began using painting as a form of art therapy in 2011 during her recovery from postpartum depression and following her later diagnosis of bipolar disorder. This initial experimentation led to her using abstract expressionist painting as a way to overcome the impacts of childhood abuse, specifically emotional suppression. Influenced by Joan Mitchell, Cy Twombly, Bernice Bing, and early Black abstractionist painters ranging from Alma Thomas to Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Nieves’ paintings offer space for her own and others' quiet reflection and contemplation. She credits both the writing and visual components of her practice with helping her to find her voice and creating space for her to safely release long-buried emotions.

 

Her interdisciplinary practice focuses on the physical, epigenetic, psychological, and social-emotional impacts of trauma—inherited, historical or ancestral, personal —exposing how it shapes, alters, and redefines identity over the course of our lives. Her intuition-driven process draws heavily on memories, emotions, and experiences from both the past and present. Nieves often completes a painting in one sitting, relying on physical movement and music to channel her inner truths and rememberings.

 

Through abstract forms and composition and expressive mark-making, she gives visible shape to the internal biological and emotional processes of adaptation, recovery, healing, and transformation. Nieves' work allows her to carve out—and take up—space where the fullness of her humanity as a Black, queer, neurodivergent woman can be expressed without retribution. It is her hope that holding space in her work to express her fullest self encourages others to do the same.

 

In 2018, Nieves founded Tessera Arts Collective, a not-for-profit serving women and non-binary abstract artists of color. Nieves' exhibits internationally; selected exhibitions include Art Basel (Switzerland), Frieze (London), Art021 Shanghai; Le Consortium Museum (Dijon, France); Galerie Marguo (Paris, France), Lawrence Van Hagen Art,(Hong Kong, China), and BODE Projects (Berlin, Germany). Her work can be found in collections across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, including the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Dangxia Art Space, Beijing, Spurs Collection in San Antonio, USA, and the Rennie Museum, in Vancouver, Canada.  

Biography

Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1982

United States Air Force OEF/OIF Veteran (2002–2006)

Founder & Executive Director, Tessera Arts Collective

Lives and works in Greater Philadelphia Area

 

Education

 

2011

Associate of Arts (AA), Camden County College 

 

Solo Exhibitions
 

2024

Le Consortium Museum, Dijon, France (upcoming)

2024  Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, USA (upcoming)
2023

Galerie Marguo, ‘Synaptic Blooming’, hosted by Edit Projects, Seoul, South Korea

2023

Galerie Marguo, 'i'm a Survivor' (online presentation), Paris, France

2023 

Galerie Marguo, 'Notes from the Laughing Barrel', Paris, France

2022 

Galerie Marguo, 'Notes from the Healing Circle' (online presentation), Paris, France

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

 

2024

Standing Pine, ‘Resonant Harmonies’, Nagoya, Japan (upcoming)

2023

Galerie Marguo, ‘ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair’, Shanghai, China

 

Various Small Fires, 'Frieze London 2023', London, UK

 

Galerie Marguo, ‘Home Run, Casa Marguo Inaugural Exhibition’, Menorca, Spain

 

Gillian Jason Gallery, 'Beyond Figuration: There and Now', London, UK

 

BODE Projects, ‘Color Coded’, Berlin, Germany

  Smart Fine Arts Asia, ‘Women in Abstraction’, Hong Kong 
 

Galerie Marguo, 'Art Paris 2023', Paris, France

2022 

Galerie Marguo, 'ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair', Shanghai, China

 

Simon Lee Gallery, 'Frieze London', London, England

 

Simon Lee Gallery, 'Art Basel', Basel, Switzerland

 

Le Consortium Museum, 'The Drawing Center Show', Dijon, France

2021  

Galerie Marguo, 'ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair', Shanghai, China

 

West Chelsea Contemporary, 'JVN x WCC On the Wall', Austin, USA

 

Susan Eley Fine Art, 'Three Abstract Artists',  New York, USA

2020

Susan Eley Fine Art, 'AMERICANA Part II', New York, USA

 

The Delaware Contemporary, 'From Chaos to Order, Making Our Way in the New World of COVID-19', Wilmington, USA

2019 UICA, 'SPECTRA', Grand Rapids, USA
  Girlboss Rally, 'Perfecting the Journey', Los Angeles, USA
  Goat Farm Arts Center, 'Her Ritual', Atlanta, USA
  Blavity & 21 Ninety Summit 21, Atlanta, USA 
2017 Saatchi Art, 'The Other Art Fair', New York, USA
  Rare Device, 'WOMEN', San Francisco, USA
2016 Dibden Center for the Arts, 'AWAKEN', Johnson State College, Johnson, USA
2015 Wild Goose Festival, 'Life as Art' exhibition & Q&A w/ Frank Schaeffer, Asheville, USA

 

Murals & Public Art

 

2021  

Philadelphia Flower Show, Philadelphia, USA

2019   

Streets Dept. Walls, Fashion District, Philadelphia, USA

 

Collections

 

Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada

X Museum, Beijing, China
Dangxia Art Space, Beijing, China

Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France

Spurs Collection, San Antonio, USA

Podo Museum, South Korea

Private collections across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia & Australia 

 

Television & Film

 

2022 

Netflix/World of Wonder Productions, 'Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness'

 

Print

 

2023

A'Driane Nieves, 'notes from the laughing barrel', Marguo Books (essay collection)

2021  

Abstractions Magazine ISSUE 001, Tessera Arts Collective

2020 

Schiffer Publishing, 'The Motherhood of Art', Marissa Huber & Heather Kirtland, interview and photos

2019

Create Magazine, Issue XI 

2017

Ashley M. Jones, 'Magic City Gospel', Hub City Press, book cover

2015

Ashlee Wells Jackson, 'The 4th Trimester Bodies Project', interview and photos

 

Projects

 

2020/2021  

Mural City Cellars Wine Label Collection, featured artist, wine labels

2018

Founded Tessera Arts Collective, nonprofit serving Black, Latin, Indigenous, and Asian women and nonbinary abstract artists

 
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