Biography

A. Malakoff studied poetry for seven years before studying English and Chemistry during university. She has constantly traded in art, having created mixed media art as an essential form of self-expression ever since she began creating, expressing herself through scrapbooking, doodling, or crafts for Girl Scout fairs. She began exploring abstractionism in 2018 largely with palette knife impasto works, further expanding to acrylic paint pours in 2020. She is driven by the desire to create art that places the viewer in limbo, able to set aside presumptions and see the alternate paths that lead ahead, and conceptualize fresh ideas to connect these roads.

In 2023 she partnered with Crispy Bits to launch the Unidos Art collective of independent artists to help drive the value of artworks made by historically-marginalized artists and utilize the proceeds toward collective action and social change.

With love,

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Read my Artist Statement below

Community of Ideas

Art began in my life as a communal idea, where all were expected to create their portion to expand upon the whole. I believe that art provides the opportunity for all to be equally involved, and it is imperative that I further foster that communal importance in my pursuit of creation. I want people to welcome the unknown more comfortably, to open themselves up with just enough space to let preconceptions recede and physical reality ebb in order to glimpse the immeasurable possibilities for potential. I hope that between these two open spaces – mind and prospects – the opportunity to form previously unestablished connections is significantly greater. With my art, I seek to face and question our own circumstance and situation.

Origins of My Art

I began creating visual art as a therapeutic catharsis, making it my vehicle to slow down and tune in to myself – to reflect, concentrate, and identify my inner self. This became most necessary during my university study while living in the Little Italy neighborhood of Chicago. While I was nestled outside of the downtown bustle, I traveled inside almost daily for work, internships, and further exploration. My processing and purging of daily life in this fast-paced environment felt best represented by abstractionism. I seek to allow this reprieve for everyone—the chance for cathartic energy to be honed and released, to purge one’s own negative thoughts and continue to form new connections and experiences.

My Process

I create my art through a simple cycle: identify the emotion or experience, match it with artistic elements, and identify what tools act as my intermediaries. I cycle through this process until I have a well-rounded approach, then begin selecting my colors and color mixing.

I am inspired to create by exploring the spectrum of intensity of various states of emotion. I believe every emotion is open and available to tap into, if you can let it immerse you. It is incredibly important to me to have this breadth, because it allows me to channel a positive emotion into a physical space. This is just as vital as visualizing and purging negative emotions. This openness allows nonjudgement and grants me the freedom to find the sublime amongst any chaos – to foster and harness my own self trust.

I am also inspired by experimentation. I love testing new ways to embody reflections of myself, and I believe that if I put in the purest interpretations of my reflections then I will always be able to achieve variation as I change and develop. All these variations are authentic versions of myself that I get to learn, explore, and reflect on. I draw visual inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki, Lord Gris (@lord_gris), Miranda Zimmerman (@faunwood), Maruti Bitamin (@koyamori), and Angie Nguyen (@ArtbyAngie). I am a collector of these artists, and their pins, prints and stickers decorate my studio space, along with my own artworks. Having the opportunity to see my own connections and interplay between themes and artworks that were never created in conjunction, is another way I seek to create order in this increasingly disordered world.

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