Bio
Mackenzie Giles is a Los Angeles-based painter raised in rural Southern California. As a child, she wrote fantasy novels, studied classical music, and searched for seabed fossils in the sandy soil of her family’s farm. These early experiences continue to shape her interest in structure and its instability.
During early adulthood, frequent relocations across America shaped her understanding of place, impermanence, and transformation. She earned a B.A. in Sculpture from Brigham Young University–Idaho in 2019. She later worked in art restoration in Dallas, Texas, where she handled artworks in various states of decay, deepening her sensitivity to materials, and then subsequently moved to San Francisco. There, she designed and fabricated large-scale window displays and interior installations. These experiences continue to inform her sensitivity to surface, structure, and the physical presence of objects in space.
Giles received her M.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from California State University, Long Beach in 2026.
Artist Statement
My paintings are internal landscapes inhabited by biomorphic forms that suggest a bodily presence. Defined and vaporous, layers of paint intermingle as they eradicate, transpose, or highlight previous ones, acting as wounds and repairs.
In the work, I search for moments of stillness, a slow reading in a world full of constant movement. Interested in the subtlety of hums and sighs and in the duality between light and weight, I view the work as a giant puzzle. One where moments of dissonance press against each other as subtle tension ricochets throughout, heightened through asymmetrical compositions and the deliberate creation of quiet voids.
Sharp edges and sharp marks cut through atmospheric passages, interrupting softness with insistence. What emerges is a suspended interior: restless, unsettled, and yet still in balance.
Selected Exhibitions
2026
Solo Exhibition, Like Honey in the Hands, MFA Thesis Exhibition, California State University, Long Beach
42nd Irvine Annual, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA
Gallus Gallus, Greater Los Angeles MFA Exhibition (GLAMFA), Gatov Gallery, Long Beach, CA
2025
25 Years of Alumni Art: Legacy in Color, Spori Gallery, Rexburg, ID
Soft Launch, Material Projects, Los Angeles, CA
SoCal MFA 2025, Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont, CA
Insights 2025, Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Long Beach, CA
Made in California Juried Exhibition, Brea Gallery, Brea, CA
Two-Person Exhibition, Bury my body in the crossroads, Merlino Gallery, Long Beach, CA (with printmaker Jo Cladinos)
2024
This house is not a home for you., MFA Advancement Exhibition, California State University, Long Beach
2021
Art in the Atrium 20 - A Moment in Time, City Hall, Frisco, TX
2020
Greetings From Lockdown, Gallery of Wonder, Aberystwyth, Wales
Authentic Marks, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2019
Awagami International Miniature Print Exhibition, Tokushima, Japan