About Ayin Es, Los Angeles Contemporary Abstract Artist

A Los Angeles native, Ayin Es grew up quickly, working in the family's garment pattern business since age eleven. They practiced painting and drawing while also trying to pursue a music career. They left an abusive home life at the age of fifteen to live as an adult and work as an artist and a drummer.

By eighteen, they attended the Musician's Institute in Hollywood, studied with notable teachers, and later toured the US and Canada in bands. They have recorded and worked with some of the industry's most talented musicians and producers, specializing in styles such as hip-hop, R&B, rock, punk, and funk.

By age thirty, Ayin was struck with both physical and mental disabilities and decided to leave their professional music and dedicate themselves fully to their art. They have since become known for having a distinct voice in painting by using various media, such as oils, watercolor, and gouache, and sometimes incorporating paper, textiles, and embroidering. They also work in installation, video, and create Artist's books. The prominent collections of the Getty, Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and multiple universities have acquired their handmade editions.

A natural storyteller, Ayin's unique artwork has been exhibited in major galleries, museums, and universities nationwide. Their paintings reside in numerous private collections and public places of healing, like the UC San Francisco Precision Cancer Center, Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, and LAC+USC Medical Center. The work is candid and personal, with a vulnerability that viewers find alluring.

Ayin is a two-time recipient of the ARC Grant from the Durfee Foundation and the National Arts and Disability Center/California Arts Council. They've also won a Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, the Wynn Newhouse Award, and the Bruce Geller Memorial Award from the American Jewish University. They were recently given the NADC Artist Achievement Award from the National Arts and Disability Center. Review publications include Artillery, LA Times, ArtScene, LA WEEKLY, ArtNowLA, ArtLTD, Art&Cake, and WhiteHot Magazine.

Now living in the California high desert, two hours east of Los Angeles proper, Ayin enjoys their life in Joshua Tree with their partner of twenty-five years. Ayin identifies as transqueer and nonbinary and is happy to be living as their authentic self.