Clayton Schiff

Clayton Schiff, b. 1987, lives and works in New York. He received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2009. His work has been presented widely, including in exhibitions at Rubell Museum, Miami; Rubell Museum, DC; Harkawik, Los Angeles; 56 Henry, New York; Plains Art Museum, Fargo; The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach; The Ranch, Montauk; Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles; LOYAL, Stockholm, Sweden, and is held in several public collections, including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Schiff is deeply invested in the potency of ordinary experience. He is a keen observer of human nature, collecting moments that escape the natural tendency of memory to prioritize significant events. The creatures that fill his paintings lack identifiable features that might give them any specific identity, amplifying and clarifying their humanity. They perform a range of humdrum activities, edged in a curious halo that seems to exist somewhere between gestural action, pentimenti, and incidental markmaking, and architecture and urban space almost always serve to contort or confine them. He shows us the quiet dignity of everyday life, and the transformative potential of simple introspection.