The leaky, chromatic worlds that I create are populated by characters caught mid-gesture, always restless within the moment, and who, despite their anxieties and absurdities, are trying their best at being. Contradiction plays a role in my work as much as the fragmented cartoon actors we see living out their lives. There is often a sense of disquiet, but painted with a vibrant palette, a celebration of the difficult or unnerving as part of the experience of living. It is not only the bestial characters that are alive: their surrounding environments are pulsating with movement, and there are few boundaries that demarcate figure and surrounding. All exist within a common ecosystem, guided by the loose gestures of my initial stroke on the page, which is then sculpted into shape with precision.
Beth Frey (b. Calgary, Canada) divides her time between Montréal and Mexico City, where she creates drawings, paintings, and videos. Through her wry, absurdist sense of humor, Frey playfully draws out contradictions in her subject matter, be it gender, the body, social media, mental health, or spirituality, often integrating representations of herself into the chromatic cartoon-like world she has created.
She has an MFA in Painting and Drawing from Concordia University, and a BFA from the University of Victoria. Frey has shown across Canada as well as in Mexico, the US, and Morocco, most recently: Agony Aunt at Casa Equis (Mexico City, 2019); Boom Boom Bloom Doom at Galería POPOP (Montréal, 2019); Relamida at Clavel Clavel (Mexico City, 2019) and Unfinished Busyness at Galería A4 (Tlalhuelilpan, Mexico, 2019), among others.
Instagram : @bethisms