Ayin Es

I grew up in Los Angeles and currently live in the Joshua Tree desert. I am an artist with physical and mental disabilities and identify as transqueer or nonbinary. I am also completely self-taught.

I have been a drummer and an artist my entire life. I've toured the U.S. and Canada, and performed for large audiences, played groove/R&B/Hip Hop, jazz, rock n' roll, and studied with notable drummers, musicians, and producers.

Earlier in life, I worked as a cutter in the garment industry with my family, beginning at age eleven. I wound up without a formal education and am completely self-taught, but have always been very self-determined.

Along with making art, I also create handmade Artist's books. They've been widely collected and placed in major museum and university collections around the world. You can see them on my website at .

Awards and Honors:

Bruce Geller Memorial Award, American Jewish University, Los Angeles, CA

Technical Assistance Grant, National Arts & Disability Center/California Arts Council

Artist's Grant, Asylum Arts, Brooklyn, NY

Wynn Newhouse Foundation Award, New York, NY

Foundation Grant, Artists' Fellowship Inc., New York, NY

Pollock-Krasner Fellowship Award, New York, NY

Artists' Resource for Completion Grant, The Durfee Foundation, Santa Monica, CA

Scholarship Award, Los Angeles Art Association, Los Angeles, CA

Residency Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

Solo Exhibitions:

2022
This Land, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2021
All's Well in the High Desert, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2019
Memoir, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2017
The Exodus Project, Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA

2015
Rock and Refuge, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2015
Exodus, Shulamit Gallery, Venice, CA (Catalog)

2012
Bioillogical, Learning Resource Center, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA

2011
Carol Es, Gordon JCC, Nashville, TN

2010
It's Mostly About Me and Much Less About You, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA
Goodbye Mrs. Beasley, Tinney Contemporary, Nashville, TN
Visions, Dreams, Patterns & Memories, Slutzky Art Gallery, JCC of Orange County, Irvine, CA

2009
Float Without Moving, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX
2-person Show w/Lucinda Cobley, Galleri Urbane, Marfa, TX
Inner Outline, UCLA Hillel, University of California, Los Angeles, CA

2008
She Dreamed She Remembered, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Above the Bias Forces, Tinney Contemporary, Nashville, TN

2007
Monogenetic Dreams From the Rag Trade, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, TX
All Done But None, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
A Girl Apart, Torrance Art Museum...