biography
Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman is a contemporary surrealist painter born out of the 3rd Wave of Feminism. She came into her own in Los Angeles in the 1990s alongside cultural movements like riot grrrl, Queercore, and DIY. As a self-taught artist, Sullivan-Beeman utilizes many DIY ethics and methods. Her paintings are a palimpsest that employs the imposed history and lore of the “girl” in empowering femininity. Her young women find their strength in a multitude of potentialities and sexualities. The iconography and simulacra in her transcendental works emerge from someplace subliminal. These elements reflect her view of the world and have metaphorical meaning through investigation of identity, gender, otherworldly narratives, and mythical animal personas. She often uses her dream journal as inspiration, exploring the collective unconscious with an overt curiosity for the bizarre and esoteric such as alchemy and the tarot. She paints using a modified oil and egg tempera Renaissance technique.
Sullivan-Beeman lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, and Vancouver, Canada. While she has a BFA in Cinema from the University of Southern California, she is a self-taught artist. Her work has been exhibited in notable galleries and museums such as KP Projects (Merry Karnowsky Gallery) in Los Angeles, CA; Haven Gallery in Northport, NY; Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, CA; The Belskie Museum of Art & Science in Closter, NJ; Greg Moon Art in Taos, NM; Merlino Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy; Galerie Bruno Massa in Paris, France. Sullivan-Beeman has participated in art fairs such as Scope Immersive 2020, Aqua Art Miami, and Pulse Art Fair in Miami, FL; LA Art Show in Los Angeles, CA; Art! Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Sullivan-Beeman has had three solo exhibitions at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. She has been named a Finalist in the Imaginative Realism category by the Art Renewal Center three times.
solo exhibitions
2022
Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA (October)
Delirium – Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago, IL (July)
2021
No Living Creature Knows — KP Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2019
Heavy Water — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Anima Mundi: all in print — Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2017
Girls, Girls, Girls — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Swallowing the Stone — Stephen Romano Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
One — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
group exhibitions
2022
Salon des Refuses — WMOCA – Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, WI (April – July)
2021
Lore — Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA
The 16th Annual Blab! Show — curated by Monte Beauchamp — Copro Gallery, Santa Monica
The Knowable Unkown — Wow x Wow, Scotland
36th Annual Art Exhibition — Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH), Lancaster, CA
Wish You Were Here — Sally Centigrade Gallery, Lakewood, CO
Onward 2.0 — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Mindweave — Wow x Wow, Scotland
2020
2020: Our Vision. Our Voices. — Sloan Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA curated by Alix Sloan & Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman
Little Big V — Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Wishlist 8 — Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Scope Art Fair — Scope Immersive – La Luz de Jesus Gallery
The 15th Annual Blab! Show — curated by Monte Beauchamp — Copro Gallery, Santa Monica
Allegory — Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Art Matters More Now Than Ever – Phylogeny Contemporary – Seattle, WA
Mermay — Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA
Ecstatic Flux — WOW x WOW, Scotland
2019
Giant Robot Post-It Show 15 — curated by Mark Todd, Esther Pearl Watson, and Eric Nakamura — GR2 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Pulse Art Fair — Phylogeny Contemporary: Booth 315, Miami Beach, FL
The 14th Annual Blab! Show — curated by Monte Beauchamp — Copro Gallery, Santa Monica
Wishlist 7 — Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
La Lune II — Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Elements — Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
LA Art Show — Copro Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Little Big IV — Haven Gallery, Northport, NY
Giant Robot Post-It Show 14 — curated by Mark Todd, Esther Pearl Watson, and Eric Nakamura — GR2 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Wishlist 6 — Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Life in This Ocean — co-curated by Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman and Kathy Taslitz — Annenberg Community Beach House, Santa Monica, CA
Crime on Canvas: Life is Beautiful Festival — curated by Jay Nailor and MiShell Modern of M Modern Gallery — Life is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, NV
The 13th Annual Blab! Show — curated by Monte Beauchamp — Copro Gallery, Santa Monica
Seattle Art Fair — Phylogeny Contemporary, Seattle, WA
Pop+X — curated by Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman — Art! Vancouver, Vancouver Convention Centre International Art Fair, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Simpatico — co-curated by Alix Sloan — Phylogeny Contemporary, Seattle, WA
Freedom: An Artistic Interpretation — Belskie Museum of Art and Science, Closter, NJ
2017
Giant Robot Post-It Show 13 — curated by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson — GR2 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Wishlist 5 — Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Crime on Canvas: Life is Beautiful Festival — curated by Jay Nailor and MiShell Modern of M Modern Gallery — Life is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, NV
In My Head — Merlino Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy
Art! Vancouver — Vancouver Convention Centre International Art Fair, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Hive 12 Year Anniversary Show — The Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Laluzapalooza 2017 — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Hive Tarot 8 — The Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Giant Robot Post-It Show 12 — curated by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson — GR2 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Aqua Art Miami: “A Constellation” — Phylogeny Contemporary
at Art Miami, Miami, FL
New-Mexi-Low-Down — curated by Greg Escalante and Greg Moon – Greg Moon Art, Taos, NM
Crime on Canvas: Life is Beautiful Festival — curated by Jay Nailor & MiShell Modern (of M Modern Gallery & CUR8L8) and Jessicka Addams — Life is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, NV
Fantastic Feminist Figuration — curated by Betty Ann Brown and Wendy Sherman — Groundspace Project, Los Angeles, CA
Memento Mori: Skulls & Bones in Art — Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA
The 4th Annual Coaster Show & Mark Todd ‘Covered’ — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Cratedigger: The Lost Art of Album Art — Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
We Choose Art/A Feminist Perspective — curated by Kristine Schomaker and Baha H. Danesh — MuzeuMM, Los Angeles, CA
The Art of Calm, Stillness & Serenity — curated by Donna Bates — SugarMynt Gallery, South Pasadena, CA
Nude Survey 5 — curated by Eric Minh Swenson — MuzeuMM, Los Angeles, CA
Hive Gallery’s 11th Year Anniversary Show — The Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Laluzapalooza 2016 — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Nude Survey 4 — curated by Eric Minh Swenson — Jai & Jai Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Giant Robot Post-It Show 11 — curated by Mark Todd, Esther Pearl Watson, and Eric Nakamura — GR2 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Wishlist 3.0 — Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Ink & Clay 41 — Kellogg University Art Gallery, Pomona, CA
The 3rd Annual Coaster Show & Harold Fox ‘Into Oblivion’ — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Wood, Metal, Screw — Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Libertine — Gristle Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
After Dark IV — Greg Moon Art, Taos, NM
VS Exhibition — Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Bunnymania — curated by Peter Frank and Delia Cabral for National Museum of Animals & Society — Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Fluent Imprint Project – curated by Lori Johns — C Emerson Fine Arts, St Petersburg, FL
Laluzapalooza 2015 — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014
The 8×8 Show — 11:11acc Gallery, Tarzana, CA
The 2nd Annual Coaster Show & Harold Fox ‘On the Fringe of the Mundane’ — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
In Dreams — 11:11acc Gallery, Tarzana, CA
Laluzapalooza 2014 — La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Shades — Corey Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Disciplines Series 1, An Interpretative of Figurative Art by Eight Women Artists — Studio C Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
People, Places & Things — Gallery Expo, Long Beach, CA
2012
2011/2012 Salon — Art Renewal Center International
2011
ATX Group Show — Los Angeles, CA
2010
LaBs — LaFonderie Atelier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
BRAND Exhibition — Brand Library & Art Galleries, Glendale, CA
awards
Honorable Mentions – WMOCA “Salon des Refusés” 2022
Finalist – Crocker Kingsley Art Award 2020
Semi-Finalist – Art Renewal Center International 2020/2021 ARC Salon
Finalist – Art Renewal Center International 2019/2020 ARC Salon
Finalist – Art Renewal Center International 2011/2012 ARC Salon
curation
2022
Figures & Faces: FG Art Collective – Los Angeles, CA curated by Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman
2020
2020: Our Vision. Our Voices. – Sloan Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA co-curated by Alix Sloan and Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman
2018
Pop+X — curated by Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman — Art! Vancouver, Vancouver Convention Centre International Art Fair, Vancouver, BC (April)
Life in This Ocean — co-curated by Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman and Kathy Taslitz — Annenberg Community Beach House, Santa Monica, CA (September)
education
BFA (Cinema/TV Production), University of Southern California, Los Angeles
professional experience
1990-2007 – Deirdre Sullivan Event Design
Owner of a successful boutique event design company. Clients included Estee Lauder, American Express, the State of Texas, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures, LA Magazine, Buzz Magazine, Conde Nast, and Christie’s Auctions House (Beverly Hills), among others. Events featured in: InStyle Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, Buzz Magazine, and Angeleno Magazine.