Rising Stars: Meet Anya Spielman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anya Spielman.

Hi Anya, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have always made art, it is in my DNA, my blood, my intellect. Growing up in a creative and analytical family in Berkeley, CA, I was obsessed with color. I recently found a trove of childhood drawings from when I was three/four years old, and some of the work is very intricate and complex and some is loose and minimal. This reflects my work today exactly, the duality of the way I work and see the world. I alternate between restraint and abandon and this tension creates a mystery in the work.

In high school, I was getting a lot of attention for my work and it made me want to deny my talent. Once in college, I took a life drawing class, and that was it, there was no going back. I also drew from cadavers at the UC Davis Medical School and was fortunate to study with the great California artists of our time, including Wayne Thiebaud.

Always curious about human nature and other cultures, I took my junior year off of college and traveled solo around the world. This trip was seminal and greatly informed my work. After graduating college, I created, exhibited and sold my work in the Bay Area, establishing my career. With a move to NYC in 1999, working in my Chinatown studio on the famed Bowery from 1999 – 2003, I was included in the New Museum’s Bowery Artists Tribute. I grew my career, exhibiting, meeting treasured collectors, and my work was featured on the hit reality shows “The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and “The Bachelorette,” as well as in several motion pictures. Back in California in 2005, I settled in Southern California, and in 2007, I was awarded the American Artist Abroad Program by the U.S. Department of State to serve as an Art-Ambassador in Uruguay, exhibiting, teaching and lecturing. In 2013, my large-scale painting, “Weightless,” was purchased by the U.S. Department of State’s Artist in Embassies Program for their permanent collection in Monterrey, Mexico. Most recently, I finished strong in 2022 with an exhibit and residency in France, shows in LA and NYC, and a nomination for the film about my work, “Inside the Mind of Anya Spielman.”

A career in art lasts a lifetime, I will be making art until the day I die. Having lived on both the west and east coasts, I am a California artist at heart, but really, I belong to the world with a sense of wonder that never seems to abate.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not! As anyone in the arts will tell you, dealing with many obstacles, rejection and others’ ideas of what you should be doing instead all can take a toll. It takes an enormous amount of discipline and resilience, especially if you are staying true to your vision. Despite selling well, I have also held many “day jobs” to pay the bills and the push-pull of being so many things can be distracting to the real work, but when things align, and when you are making important work, you can soar.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a professional artist, exhibiting nationally and internationally, with work in both public and private collections, it is my life’s work. I am known mostly for my saturated oil paintings on paper, canvas and panel, but also for my photography and most recently, the film “Inside the Mind of Anya Spielman,” by filmmakers Lauri Levenfeld and Grace Wethor which was nominated for Best Art Direction and screened at the 2022 La Jolla International Film Festival. My work continues to explore the constellation of binary forces and forms; I absorb the world around me and often transmute what I see and feel — the emotional and political landscape of our time.

I’m most proud of being able to persevere in one of the most difficult professions. I am proud of my amazing children and being able to navigate having a career and a family.

I believe what sets me apart is that I love the business aspect of the art world as much as creating. I feel comfortable working with galleries, museums and art consultants. I love the relationships with my collectors that I have cultivated over my career, many of whom have sizable collections of my work. I like to think that when co-existing with my paintings, there becomes a cerebral dialogue between the viewer and the work, the memory of time, space and relationship to oneself and the world.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I am truly grateful to all the people who have supported my career over time: my family, friends, professors, colleagues, dealers and collectors.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.anyaspielman.com/
• Instagram: @aspielman
• Other: https://www.ideelart.com/artist/anya-spielman

Image Credits
Lauri Levenfeld Anya Spielman