Serge Serum (born 1993 in Los Angeles) is a self-taught Mexican-American artist based between LA and New York, known for neo-expressionist mixed media painting.

After a childhood filled with a love for drawing, Serum became acquainted with professional art and art-making by intensively occupying himself with the thought processes and attitudes of accomplished artists. Making graffiti in the neighborhood he grew up in followed, a practice which he eventually gave up, because of the gang-related dangers involved. It was at this point, that Serum began painting on canvas, experiencing a similar thrill that he would get from working on street walls.

Keenly interested in neurology and psychology, creating vibrant portraits and figurative work has become the most suitable way for Serum to emphasize how the inner world reveals itself emotionally.

As the artist states:

I paint portraits in a distorted, uncertain manner to show how faces are truthful and deceptive at once. Faces are the ‘mask’ we wear; a mask of gender and race before anything else.

 
Serum works intuitively, sometimes utilizing personal or staged photographs as a reference, or drawing from memories of his upbringing in Compton/Los Angeles and Mexico. In his mixed-media works, the artist combines techniques such as oil painting, pastels, spray painting, and collaging fragments of photography and previous paintings. The results are ruthless, often dark and violent depictions of the human condition, stylistically reminiscent of neo-expressionism and the work of artists such as Francis Bacon or Egon Schiele, while also referencing Latin tropes.

During his artist residency at SomoS, Serum is working with painting, photography, installation, and videos, exploring new ways to question identity, freedom, and responsibility, eager to include new experiences from the broader society that he is immersing himself into. From June 15th – June 26, the results will be presented at the SomoS exhibition space in the solo exhibition Carrion. An Artist Talk will be held on June 18, 2021, at 7 pm.

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Serge Serum has held several solo exhibitions, including Lingered Memories at Last Projects, Los Angeles, 2019; Left Uncertain…, at James Black Gallery, Vancouver, 2018; Yours Truly, at The Ou Gallery, Duncan BC, 2018; To Take Comfort, at the Contemporary Gallery, Los Angeles, 2017; and Wayward Fantasies, at Funeral Diner, Portland, 2017.

Apart from his residency at SomoS in 2021, Serge participated in Residency Unlimited, in Brooklyn, NY (2019); James Black, Vancouver, Canada (2018); and at The Ou, Vancouver, Canada (2018).

Serum’s works appeared on the cover of LEYA’s album Flood Dream (2020), the cover of the 2018 “Angel Lust” EP by Eartheater and LEYA, and the poster for the 2019 feature film “Girl On The Third Floor” (2019).

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Serge Serum’s Instagram