Angela Fang Zirbes is a painter based in New York and Iowa. Her paintings recall feelings of isolation growing up as a young biracial woman in the American Midwest. Working from a range of sources including her memories, recurring dreams, and found imagery, Fang Zirbes’ paintings describe the experience of navigating an identity rooted in liminality through layered contradictions: what is seen and what is hidden, light and shadow, and reality versus memory. Set in an old rural house reminiscent of the spaces from her childhood, repeated motifs coexist alongside the artist as familiar objects, patterns, and entities in subtly altered forms and contexts. The skewed compositions and perspectives suspend a pervasive sense of peril within the uncanny interiors, in which the subjects are aware that they have been walked-in-on by an unwelcome voyeur. Fang Zirbes’ paintings return her to haunt these domestic scenes, seeking a deeper understanding of her detachment, uncertainty, and fear.
Angela Fang Zirbes (b. 2000, Iowa) was born and raised in Iowa and received her BFA from Parsons School of Design in 2023. She primarily works with airbrushed acrylic on raw canvas.