Chelsea Wrightson

Biography
Chelsea Wrightson (b.1986) is a multimedia artist working in painting, drawing, sculpture, and ceramics. She is fascinated by the physics of vision and its intersection with consciousness. Her series Quantum Visions(Quarantine Visions) began at the start of the COVID 19 pandemic when a majority of people were in quarantine. The series is inspired by the experience of one’s vision adjusting to total darkness and the illusions that start to emerge.

Chelsea Wrightson has exhibited nationally in Seattle, Albuquerque, Taos, and New York City. Her work has been written about in Southwest Contemporary and the Albuquerque Journal. Putting a contemporary perspective on transcendentalism, Wrightson is inspired by painters Hilma af Klint and Agnes Pelton. Wrightson holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico. She currently lives and works in Albuquerque. 

Quarantine felt like entering a cave; while my eyes adjusted to sudden total darkness, my brain constructed its own lights, shapes, and colors to focus on in the absence of clear vision. What forms out of the dust on paper are contracts of interconnection. – Chelsea Wrightson

Education
2011 BFA, Printmaking, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Solo Exhibitions
2020
Altars of Imperfection, Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM
Quarantine Visions, Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM

Group Exhibitions
2022
Taos Abstract Artist Collective Inaugural Exhibition, Stables Gallery (Taos Art Center), Taos, NM, Sept. 2-10
Another World, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2021
Transcendental States, curated by Adam Liam Rose, Project Gallery V, New York, NY
AFTERIMAGE, curated by Alex Paik, Maake Magazine, maakemagazine.com

2020
No Longer and Not Yet, Das Shaufenster/ Goethe-Institut, Seattle, WA

2019
PRELUDE, Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, NM

2018
Holiday Show, Relic, Albuquerque, NM

2016
Chelsea Wrightson and Kate Samuels, Relic, Albuquerque, NM
One Night Stand, Euridice Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Anonymass, Small Engine Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Follicle, Graft Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2014
Untitled, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2013
25th anniversary exhibition, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Ikebana, 5g Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2012
I Wear Black Light on the outside, Small Engine Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Sans Sheriff: a collection of lawless typography, Tan Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Vulgar Remedies, works on paper, Tan gallery, Albuquerque, NM

Press
2022
Nancy Zastudil, Transcendental Painting Lives on in New Mexico and Beyond, Hyperallergic, February 8

2021
Chelsea Wrightson, Vol. 2 Flights of Fancy, Southwest Contemporary, April 30

2020
Kathaleen Roberts, Powerful Transformations: Chelsea Wrightson gives new purpose to plastic waste, reimagining it as molds for artistry, Albuquerque Journal, September 6
5×5: Top 5 picks for the Next 5 days, Southwest Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM, August 20

2011
Cover Image, Best Student Essays, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Press Release
2022 Another World at Richard Levy Gallery
2021 A few of our favorite things at Richard Levy Gallery