Biography

From convex still lifes and gauzy self-portraits to impressive mise-en-scenes on polished brass and fine linen, Willa Wasserman’s practice in painting and figuration is aligned with the world of dreams. Her images are loose and spectral—impressions plucked from the hazy essences of her sitters and various subjects, and at the same time cast in the pensive, indeterminate ambiance with which Wasserman embraces vital questions of intimacy, gender, and above all, becoming.

In figure and process, Wasserman deftly interrelates histories of classical painting and material culture with contemporary portrayals of queerness. Brass and copper sheet, silver plate, precious metalpoint, and stretched linen are part of a growing array of closely studied materials that uniquely capture the latency in Wasserman’s gestures. They offer keen metaphors for the potentiality at the heart of her practice. For example her linseed oils age, her delicate silverpoints oxidize, caustic reagents transform her metal surfaces into iridescent patinas. With sincerity and lightness, Wasserman conducts these phantom throughlines into tender, moving silhouettes of sex, self, and metamorphosis.

Willa Wasserman (b. 1990, Evansville, Indiana) lives and works in New York. She gained her BFA at Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in 2013, and received her MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2019. Recent solo exhibitions include Travesía Cuatro, Madrid (2025) and Guadalajara (2024); François Ghebaly, New York (2023), Los Angeles (2022); High Art, Paris, France (2022); Downs & Ross, New York (2021); Good Weather, Chicago (2020) and in lieu, Los Angeles (2020). Selected group presentations include James Cohan, New York (2024); Modern Art, London (2023); Michael Werner Gallery, London, UK (2022); Sargent’s Daughters, New York (2020); and Park View / Paul Soto, Los Angeles (2019).

Works
  • Willa Wasserman, Portrait of Cato Ouyang, 2025
    Portrait of Cato Ouyang, 2025
  • Willa Wasserman, Still life with yellow vase and roses pinned to curtain, 2025
    Still life with yellow vase and roses pinned to curtain, 2025
  • Willa Wasserman, The tattoo, 2024
    The tattoo, 2024
  • Willa Wasserman, Figure, 2024
    Figure, 2024
  • Willa Wasserman, Salvia With Her Hair Down, 2023
    Salvia With Her Hair Down, 2023
  • Willa Wasserman, Janifa Guevara, 2023
    Janifa Guevara, 2023
  • Willa Wasserman, Asters and other dead flowers in the mirror door, 2023
    Asters and other dead flowers in the mirror door, 2023
  • Willa Wasserman, Clair, 2023
    Clair, 2023
  • Willa Wasserman, Making the shape of the letter x or 'no' with my body reflected in this south facing mirror version three, 2023
    Making the shape of the letter x or 'no' with my body reflected in this south facing mirror version three, 2023
  • Willa Wasserman, Making the shape of the letter x or 'no' with my body reflected in this northwest facing mirror version five, 2023
    Making the shape of the letter x or 'no' with my body reflected in this northwest facing mirror version five, 2023
  • Willa Wasserman, Twice Angel II, 2022
    Twice Angel II, 2022
  • Willa Wasserman, Istomina, 2022
    Istomina, 2022
  • Willa Wasserman, X, 2022
    X, 2022
  • Willa Wasserman, Quickening, 2022
    Quickening, 2022
  • Willa Wasserman, Sunset at Meat Rack, 2022
    Sunset at Meat Rack, 2022
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