Opening Reception Friday, April 19, 5 – 7 pm
Jeremy Biggers and Sam Lao are a unique and talented artistic couple based in Dallas. Despite their contrasting styles, their work is equally impressive and captivating. Biggers is a muralist and realist painter who creates monumental, empowering portraits of individuals within his community. Lao, whose works are featured in Meow Wolf’s newly opened museum in Texas, creates vibrant abstract forests of tufted textiles, which come together to form enchanting environments. This exhibition marks their first joint display outside of Dallas, and their New Mexico debut!
Jeremy Biggers draws inspiration from his personal experiences and how they shape his perspective. His artwork explores themes of identity, particularly in relation to his experience as a Black man in America. Through his unique visual language, Biggers employs his signature “hyper-red” color to convey a sense of aspiration and a rejection of complacency.
The recurring dots in Biggers’ work represent his mother and the ladybugs who visited him after her passing. These symbols hold a deep personal significance for the artist, and they add an additional layer of meaning and a sense of viewer-subject separation to his work.
Sam Lao is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores the interaction between color, texture, and pattern as they relate to the flow of creating and the actions required to bring thought to fruition. This process considers the ever-shifting nature of an idea from its inception to its ultimate consumption. Through her craft, she examines the abstract nature of what it means to be creative. Lao was reprimanded many times in her youth for getting too close to the artwork during museum visits, and the tactile qualities of her current work subvert the adage of “do not touch the artwork” by inviting the viewer to do just that and, in turn, making a visual experience a physical one as well.