^{ABOUT ME}

^{I’m Jerry Wellman, a multi media conceptual artist working in installation, ceramics, sculpture, print and paint.  I am also co-founder/co-curator at Axle Contemporary mobile art gallery.
     My first “real” job, besides delivering newspapers, was working for Grover Bostwick as a roustabout in a carnival in Northern Wisconsin. My definition of art is expansive.  My work as a carny, a cab driver, a private investigator, a minister in a spiritual awareness group, a ceramic tile designer, a videographer, an MFA graduate of CalArts, and co-founder/co-director of experimental art space, Axle Contemporary coalesce into visual and cross-disciplinary art forms; curatorial projects, performance, writing, public engagement and studio production. 
      My installations have been described as a philosophical funhouse or a walk in book. Combining  image and language, philosophy and poetry, the work explores the realms of being and essences, to present what I call a "pragmatic mysticism." It is not abstract, yet it resists easy narrative. Signs, symbols, and linguistic structures layer over and through each other. I use a variety of media to push past literal interpretation into something more complex and open-ended, a visual work that confounds categorization and promotes a sense of wonder. 
     My paintings and drawings and installations have been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Holly Solomon Gallery in New York City, LACE, Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn, The Downey Museum, The Orange County Center of Contemporary Art, The El Paso Museum of Art, The Revolving Museum in Boston, Hecho a Mano, SITE Santa Fe, The Navajo Nation Museum, and other venues throughout The US. 
     I’ve taught at the Pasadena College of Art and Design, CalArts,  New Mexico State University. I was formerly the head curator at Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art. Awards of note include: Art Matters Foundation Grant, LINE Grant, Puffin Grant, Ucross Artist in Residency, and an NEA grant.
 I also have a TEDxTalk on Axle Contemporary: view here.
You can contact me via email at jerrywellman1@gmail.com
or instagram @jerrywellmanarts DM for inquiries}
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