My Bio

Virdell is a native Bay Area Artist who received her Masters of Art in Transformative Art, at John F. Kennedy University. She received her BA in Studio Art at Mills College, where she had the opportunity to travel to London for creative research on themes of identity through portraiture. Later that year Virdell traveled to Beijing with teacher and artist, Hung Liu where she visited the homes and studios of renowned Chinese artists, Ai Weiwei, Liu Xiaodong, Yu Hong, Sui Jangou, Lin Tianmiao, Wang Gongxin, and Zhang Wang. After graduation, she created Temple Vitae, an interactive community art piece that provided the Burning Man Community with a Labyrinth and sacred space to connect with the divine. In 2019 Virdell made a tribute to a close friend Anthony Torres, aka Bubbles  at the Dia de Los Muertos exhibition at SomArts.

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My Statement

People have many faces and can choose when, where and what face they would like to show at any given time. I am not interested in their masks I want to know what lies behind it. In the depths of our anima/animus, there lies an ocean of emotion full of mysteries both wondrous and terrifying. My work begins in the absence of light, very much like using a flashlight, I bring what’s hidden into light. I zoom in close by painting large, isolated objects and figures with minimal details so that the subject is clear and the statement is felt. My work is trauma-informed, emotional, and cognitive.

 

My Inspiration

I am inspired by the desire to become whole; to heal my trauma and hopefully help others to find their path to healing through the art-making process. As a transformative artist, I know that the art process holds the key to a hidden language represented by symbols. Each of my paintings informs me of my progress by bringing its symbols into the light to express what words cannot. Repression and regression, dissociation and dissonance, the unconscious and subconscious mind, the internal excavation of self are what inspire me.