On the Mend by Ayin Es

2024-2025 Solo Exhibition at Compound Yucca Valley, CA

On the Mend, was a solo exhibition by artist Ayin Es presented at Compound in Yucca Valley in the high desert of California.

This show reflects a journey of healing from abuse, disability, gender-affirming surgery, and mental illness. Many of the paintings feature Dan, a dog-like creature whose name is an anagram of a "Non-Descript Animal," and whose presence evokes comfort and companionship, variously coinciding with upside-down rainbows, flowers, or sweets. Other works feature self-portraiture, shapes, or patchworks of garment patterns, that refer to patternmaking. In the self-portraits, a heavy stitch across the chest is a post-transition timestamp and a symbol of the wound from which the artist has worked to heal.