ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sean Crim is a Los Angeles based artist who works in painting and light. His works utilize ink, flashe, acrylic and oil paint on canvas along with neon and LED lights. He focuses on conceptualizing emotion through color psychology, neural oscillations and space perception. He captures emotional states by using an EEG headset to monitor his brain waves while he engages in a dyad with himself through reflection. He creates a visual representation of those emotions and states into conceptual form. His work further pushes into surrealist automatism to capture inner states by suppressing all conscious control over the process of creation and letting the unconscious guide a more painterly, gestural process and conversation within his work. Through light, he creates continuous movement in his artwork resembling the constant change in emotion and the continual rotation of time and space. His work derives from looking through the façade of what appears to be to what Is, exploring the journey of getting out of self by moving through self.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1992, Sean found solace and self-expression through art, particularly during his high school years at Georgetown Preparatory School in Washington DC, where he honed his skills in realism, focusing on portraiture. His artwork garnered recognition and awards across the DC area. After graduating in 2011, Sean painted a poignant portrait of his late grandfather, a moment that revealed the profound emotional impact of his art. Pursuing his passion alongside his studies, he earned a BS in Finance and minor in Studio Art from Wake Forest University in 2015. Following a brief stint in commercial real estate in 2015 and 2016, Sean assisted his mother, Judy, in launching her dessert company, Judy’s Sweets and Treats, in 2016. During this time, a commissioned painting reignited Sean’s artistic fervor, prompting him to prioritize his passion for art. Recognizing the transformative power of his work and love of art, Sean dedicated himself and his life to pursue his art.
Sean moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2017 to truly focus on his art and build his career. He started creating bodies of work that were focused on positive mental health and positive mental reinforcement. The pieces became an expression of his emotions and inner self through memory and personal experiences. In November of 2017, Sean showcased his art in the Malibu Art Walk. Sean honed in on the ongoing theme of self-exploration, positive mental change, and inner strength. He began his series, 'Animals, the Spirit Within', which exemplified similar inner emotions, self-perseverance and strength through the spirit, emotion and stance of animals. He finished this series in late fall of 2018 and showcased it at The Regent Cocktail Club in Miami for Art Basel 2018 Miami. Post show, Sean’s work pushed more into non-objective abstraction as portrayed in his series ‘Into the Light’. The paintings focus on his inner emotions, intuition, personal growth, and ability to always find the light no matter how dark it becomes. In the fall of 2019, Sean showcased part of this series in a group show titled 'Into the Light', based on his series, at The Whole 9 Gallery in Culver City, California. Sean further pushed the boundaries of light and movement within his series, Beauty in Chaos, through his utilization of neon and acrylic on canvas. He shows his work through group exhibitions at Art Unified on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, California, which he started showing at in the fall of 2020. Further, Sean's work was displayed in the group exhibition, Dysmorphia, at Maddox Gallery in July and August of 2021. His work was also shown in Maddox Gallery's fall group exhibition, Autumn Contemporary, and winter exhibition, Out To Lunch, in 2021 in the Los Angeles gallery. Sean's work was shown with Art Unified at the 2021 Art Market Hamptons, the 2022 LA Art Show, the 2022 Palm Beach Show and at SCOPE in Miami for the 2022 Art Basel Miami. In 2023, he has shown at the LA Art Show and Hampton's Art Fair with Art Unified. Sean's work was also shown in Jac Forbes Contemporary group show, Ordinary Objects, in May and June of 2023. Sean’s work was shown with Art Unified at SCOPE in Miami for Art Basel in 2023 as well as the 2024 LA Art Show. His work was shown in a group show, Reverie: Lost In A Daydream, at Speedy Gallery in Los Angeles in late spring and early summer of 2024. Sean’s work was also incorporated with Speedy Gallery and C24 Gallery at C24 in the group show, Spatial Divide, in New York City in the late summer of 2024.
Sean’s work is being displayed in private collections across the US in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Washington DC and Atlanta as well as Madrid and Puerto Rico.