Panda Landa "Tether" Acrylic, Surreal Profile Portrait Painting in Gray and Black, California Desert Art, Original 20 X 25 Inches, 2023

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Two profiles face each other across a gap of black: a large, pale gray head in profile, crowned with a … Read more Two profiles face each other across a gap of black: a large, pale gray head in profile, crowned with a ring of silver stars, one wide eye turned sideways, and a smaller face with a single eye at the left, set in a warm apricot and yellow field. A ribbon of colored segments in peach, yellow, mint, pink and sky blue leaves the large figure's mouth and curves down like a cord. The faces are simplified to bold curves, and the black between them has a sculptural weight. Panda Landa's interest in identity, healing and transformation runs through the textile series, and this painting carries similar tenderness. It is framed in black behind a white mat.

A distinctive, upright painting for a study, a living room, a stairwell or a bedroom that welcomes a conversation piece. The black and gray pair with white walls, charcoal upholstery and dark wood, while the apricot and pastel ribbon pick up warm accents in cushions, ceramics or a patterned rug. Hang it above a console, a desk or an armchair.

Acrylic, 20 x 25 x 1.5 in (50.8 x 63.5 x 3.8 cm). Framed in black, with a white mat.

The acrylic works are painted in thin, chalky layers with drawn line and softly scumbled color, and mounted behind a white mat in a black frame. Figures and gestures are reduced to a few clear shapes, such as a reaching hand, a profile or a hanging charm, set against fields of aqua, black and cream. They sit apart from the textile series but share its improvised, play-led way of working.

Panda Landa (b. 1982) is a queer, non-binary visual artist and filmmaker raised in the Nevada desert and now based in Joshua Tree, California. Self-taught, they work through instinct and improvisation, making mixed-media textile pieces from second-hand fabrics that are dyed by hand, stitched and stretched over frames. Sustainability is central to the practice, and every cloth arrives with its own history.

Their ongoing series, including PORTAL, ALTAR, ECLIPSE, VESSEL and RITUAL, touch on queerness, identity, ancestral narrative, healing and transformation, and more recent beaded panels carry short, tender phrases in color. Landa made the 2022 film In the Middle of Everywhere and has offered a workshop on giving new life to clothes at the Joshua Tree Music Festival. See less