Alison Rash is a Los Angeles based artist who grew up in rural Nebraska. Rash earned an MFA from Claremont Graduate University with a concentration in Painting in 2010. While at CGU, she was awarded the Claremont Graduate University Fellowship and the Walker/Parker Memorial Fellowship. She was also a Dedalus Foundation Fellowship Nominee and the Claremont Graduate University Art Fellow. Rash earned an MA in Education from Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology in 2005 and a BA in Art from Pepperdine University in 2001. Her work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas and Washington D.C. as well as internationally in Paris, France; Venice, Italy and Tokyo, Japan.

I am fascinated by the mind – by its power, logic and irrationality, its ability to be a million places at once, to focus on a single idea or to disappear altogether. I am also interested in order – specifically internal systems of order set up by the mind to manage anxiety, find meaning, understand life and create a sense of security.

My work occupies the intersection among order, coincidence and manipulation, and gets at a quiet understanding of exploration.

The paintings explore the results of following systematic impulses. These impulses are the paintings’ organizing principles. I use a facet of my own life - an anecdote or idiosyncratic thought-process - to set up a structure. This structure functions as a means of control. This leads to a purposeful detachment in the paintings – a denied anxiousness that results in a peaceful resolve.

The specifics of each system become irrelevant and the paintings move into a visual construction of compulsions, a sensual experience of form, movement, order and color. Coincidence and contingency come into play and perceptual shifts occur as order and intuition converge. Casual marks gain significance in the compositions and interact with the other marks, becoming anything but casual or incidental. There is a reduction in the physical tactility of the surface that lends to the abstraction – an unthere thereness.

The paintings mimic the contingent nature of life. They are more anecdotal than heroic, more off-kilter than grand. My work hypothesizes that all events have equal opportunity to be important. At times the small, seemingly unimportant events become the most impactful moments and the major events become mere bumps in the road. There is a generosity and unfamiliarity in the work that reward continued viewing.

The systematic approach allows me to get out of the way by letting the compulsions carry on and become structural foundations that lead to open-ended compositions.

M.F.A., 2010 Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California

B.A. Art, Cum Laude, 2001 Pepperdine University – Seaver College, Malibu, California

Intensive Art Study, 2001 Studio Art Centers International, Florence, Italy

Coordinator - Visiting Artist Lecture Series

Claremont Graduate University, Department of Art, Claremont, California, 2009-2010

Worked with graduate students to choose a set of visiting artist lecturers for the semester. Contacted artists and coordinated studio visits and lectures. Facilitated/moderated lectures.

Studio Assistant, Roland Reiss – Painter/Sculptor, Los Angeles, California, 2009-2011

Assisted highly established professional artist in studio practice and with preparations for gallery and museum exhibitions. Prepared canvases, transferred drawings and painted.

Studio Assistant, Gary Lang – Painter/Sculptor, Ojai, California, 2008-2009

Assisted successful contemporary artist by preparing canvases and painting surfaces.

Studio Assistant, Connie Zehr – Sculptor, Claremont, California, 2008-2009

Provided work on large-scale contact prints for professional artist. Assisted with technology setup and needs.

2014, Art Silicon Valley/San Francisco, Adah Rose Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2014, Carte Blanche, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington, MD

2014, Groovy Paris, Galerie du Haut Pave, Paris, France

2014, PULSE - Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY

2014, In 2040 - Jaus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2013, PULSE - Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, FL

2013, Carte Blanche: Asia, Joey, Kara, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington, MD

2013, Energy. Ecstasy. Edge. Alison Rash and Chris Trueman, Adah Rose Gallery,

2013, Next to Nothing, Coastline Art Gallery, Newport Beach, CA

2012, From Honolulu, Queens, Logan Circle, Chicago, Sierra Leone, Brooklyn and New

Jersey with Love, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington, MD

2012, Subterraneans, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

2012, Painting on Edge: REDUX, D.E.N. Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

2012, Durden and Ray: Year Two, Autonomie, Los Angeles, CA

2012, Joanna Burke, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA

2012, Whitebox Contemporary, La Jolla, CA

2012, Painting on Edge, Autonomie, Los Angeles, CA

2012, 80 Days, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

2012, Speculative Materialism II, AC Projects, Pomona, CA

2012, To Live and Paint in LA, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

2011, Spread the Word, Mark Moore Gallery, Culver City, CA

2011, La Cosa Nostra – This Thing of Ours, Galerie Rheeway, Los Angeles, CA

2011, Speculative Materialism II, AC Projects, Pomona, CA

2011, Super Salon, FlagStop, Torrance, CA

2011, Re:Present, Durden and Ray, LA Mart, Los Angeles, CA

2011, Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2011, Entering Abstraction, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2011, Suspended Literal, Autonomie, Los Angeles, CA

2011, Speculative Materialism, D-Block Projects, Long Beach, CA

2011, Alison Wonderland, RAID Projects, Los Angeles, CA

2011, Spectrum, W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery, Cal State Polytechnic

2011, Year One, Commonspace LA, Los Angeles, CA

2010, L_ove A_lways, Gallery Lara, Tokyo, Japan

2010, Eight from CGU, Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2010, Complex Yet Approachable, Project 210, Pasadena, CA

2010, Merging, East and Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont, CA

2010, Alison Rash, Solo Exhibition, East Gallery, Claremont, CA

2010, Crashing Culver, Bonsai Projects, Culver City, CA

2009, Making Out, East and Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont, CA

2009, Nel Vostro Spazio / In Your Space, Venice, Italy

2009, Twenty-Eight, East and Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont, CA

2009, Surface Strata, Patricia Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA

2009, Red Show, DA Center for the Arts, Pomona, CA

2008, Laundry List, East and Peggy Phelps Galleries, Claremont, CA`

2007, “House, M.D.” Artwork featured on FOX drama, Los Angeles, CA

2007, Santa Monica Fine Art Studios Annual Exhibition, SMFAS, Santa Monica, CA

Claremont Graduate University Merit Fellowship (2009-2010)

ArtSlant Juried Showcase Winner (2010)
Walker/Parker Memorial Fellowship (2009)
Dedalus Foundation Fellowship Nominee (2009)

Claremont Graduate University Art Fellow (2008-2009)

Pepperdine University Outstanding Artist (2001)
Golden Key National Honor Society (1998-Present)
Dean’s List (1999-2001)

Ruth T. Langford Memorial Scholarship (1998-2001)

Jenkins, Mark, "D.C. gallery shows: ‘Fresh,’ ‘Yours, Mine & Ours,’ ‘Great Streets’ and ‘Carte

Blanche’," The Washington Post, August 24, 2013

Landau, Lauren, "Art Beat with Lauren Landau, August 14," WAMU 88.5: Art Beat,

Landau, Lauren, "Art Beat with Lauren Landau, April 24," WAMU 88.5: Art Beat, April 24, 2013

"100 Works to See Before You Die in San Diego," San Diego Magazine, September 2011

Arrowsmith, Dawn, Nancy Spiller and Jill Sykes. Nel Vostro Spazio / In Your Space, 2011:

Gallery MAR

Flies in the Bottom Drawer

Oil Painting

Artist: Alison Rash

Title: Flies in the Bottom Drawer

Medium: Oil Painting

Size: 60" x 48"

Price: $5,175 - Sold

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