Exhibition Statement

By most standards, street posters, shoe boxes and shopping bags are not considered traditional fine art materials. Rather, these items are manufactured for a brief life of utility and are ultimately destined for the recycling bin. They are the discarded papers of an industrialized modern life. Garbage. But as the old saying goes, one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure. I’ve always viewed these humble materials as something far more valuable than disposable. To me, these fragments of paper are a study in the cultural remains we leave behind. They reflect our society, values and our most American of past-times, consumerism.

In Touch The Sky, I’ve repurposed street posters, luxury brand shopping bags, and Nike shoe boxes into multi-layered collages. This new body of work is an abstract exploration into our relationship with corporate branding. I’m curious how these companies drive cultural discourse, establish economic hierarchy, and influence our personal identities through consumption. My generation grew up during the height of Air Jordan and to this day, I am still hypnotized by the Nike representation of self-mastery, champions, and transcendentalism. It’s universally accepted that Dior and Gucci are more than designer brands. They are symbols of luxury and economic upward mobility. Wealth. With one purchase, powered by the omni-presence of corporate advertising, we can rise to a better version of ourselves. Buy it and touch the sky.

It should be noted, the urge to display wealth and social position through consumer goods is nothing new or purely American. In the 1550’s, pineapples were a rare luxury and considered the ultimate display of European and British opulence. Yet, mass consumerism coupled with branding is the outcome of an industrialized, post WWII United States. No artist understood the American relationship to commercial advertising better than Andy Warhol. With Campbell Soup Cans and Coke Bottles, Warhol critiqued an expanding consumer-driven society in a mid-century America. His work created a provoking dialogue on the societal effects of mass media advertising (television) coupled with industrialized-consumerism and identity. 

Today, we live in the era of social media, endless scrolling advertisements, a widening economic gap, and an amplified identification to extreme wealth. Like Warhol, I’m exploring the influence of our modern consumer-culture. By deconstructing posters, boxes and shopping bags, these branded materials are transformed and elevated into multi-layered, collage paintings. Each piece is imprinted with the brand’s DNA.

While breaking down countless Nike shoe boxes and luxury brand shopping bags, I was curious how a plain paper bag is considered trash, yet the same paper bag embossed with Gucci or Air Jordan is emotionally considered a treasure. I don’t have a clinical answer to this curiosity, but I’m certain Warhol would say, “It’s gotta be the shoes.”

-Ashleigh Sumner

Artist Bio

Ashleigh Sumner (b.1979) is a contemporary painter living and working out of East Oakland, CA. Sumner received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from Western Carolina University before moving west to Los Angeles in 2003 and then north to Oakland, California in 2017.

Sumner’s early artistic career is firmly rooted in theatre arts with professional credits in stage, independent queer film, and network television. Her years of experience as a performer provided a natural evolution of translating elements of text into the visual medium of painting.

Notable public installations include a collaboration with 2K Foundations, and NBA athlete Damian Lillard. The project included the complete refurbishment of the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland’s basketball court and gymnasium. Sumner designed and installed two, 12ft x 24ft mixed media, murals applied directly to the basketball court floor. Additional collaborations with 2K Foundations include permanent installations for the Gameheads organization of Oakland.

Publications include the 2023 monograph, Hype Means Nothing. The book is three-year collaboration with photographer and designer, Shaun Roberts which documents the artist’s work and process from 2017 – 2023.

In 2020, Sumner created a definitive body of work as a visual diary of the Covid-19 pandemic. The collection of paintings was presented as a solo exhibition with the College of Marin titled, "Mortem | Renovamen: The Covid Diaries."

Notable museum exhibitions include the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art's JUSTICE (2020) curated by Karen Jenkins-Johnson. Sumner’s painting, “American Idiot” was awarded Honorable Mention.

Curated exhibitions include "Street Preachers," an exhibition of the premier female street artists of Los Angeles. The exhibition was mounted with the support of The Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock and was awarded grants from the Los Angeles Arts Commission and the Pasadena Art Alliance.

Additional awards include the winner of the Red Bull Curates Competition for Los Angeles. As a result, her work was highlighted in a special exhibition with SCOPE, Miami that year.

Ashleigh Sumner’s work can be found in both public and private collections throughout Europe and the United States.