Ilya Shkipin (b. 1989) earned his BFA in Illustration from the Academy of Art in San Francisco and currently lives and works in Patterson, California.

In his paintings, ordinary scenes dissolve into emotional abstraction as figures and environments bleed into one another, frozen in time. Inspired by photos, movie stills and imagination, Shkipin employs gestural paint application to interpret human experience through distorted spaces and amorphous forms. Figures blend into dreamlike voids, capturing the tenuous way memories drift in and out of consciousness. For the past three years, he has also incorporated neural networks into his creative process, using AI to further push his work into innovative new territory.

Shkipin had his first solo exhibition, “Transfusion,” at the Academy of Art in 2015. Since then, his work has been featured in shows at Hang Art gallery, including “Patient” (2018) and group exhibitions like “Same, Same, But Different 6.0” (2017). His paintings were also shown in the de Young Open Exhibition (2020) and Nocturne (2016) in San Francisco, among other shows. This is his first solo exhibition with Ryan Graff Contemporary.

Beyond the canvas, Shkipin expresses his experimental spirit as the bassist and singer of an indie-rock band, The Laytcomers. Whether wielding a brush or guitar, he explores the fluid nature of human experience and memory through abstract, emotionally evocative work.