Patricia Ayres
Document No. 45-013 (Estranged), 2026
Mixed graphic media, tailoring chalk, iodine, dye, sacramental wine,anointing oil, frankincense, and tape on found ledger paper and cardboard
18 1/2 x 21 x 3/8 inches (46.99 × 53.34 × 0.95 cm)

Courtesy of the artist, Matthew Brown Gallery and Mendes Wood DM

Selected by Cecilia Alemani

Patricia Ayres operates a rigorous, deeply material practice that interrogates themes of constraint, control, and systemic isolation enacted upon the body. Informed by a foundational background in fashion design, Ayres charts the physical weight and memory embedded within structure, tension, and form. While recognized for her labor-intensive, tightly bound sculptural assemblages, she maintains an equally vital, independent graphic practice. Rather than serving as mere preparatory exercises, her heavily worked drawings and mixed-media works on paper function as autonomous sites of friction. Generated directly from her sculptural practice, these pieces are built across found ledger paper and cardboard substrates, the latter bearing the raw liquid stains of that studio process. In these works, architectures of authority are transformed into visceral, highly textured compositions of surface and human resilience.

Ayres is currently the subject of a major public commission for High Line Art, New York (through 2027). Her international exhibition profile includes solo presentations with Mendes Wood DM (New York, Brussels), TANK Shanghai, and Matthew Brown (Los Angeles). Notable institutional and group exhibitions include Fashioning Form: Dior to McQueen, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2027); Sculpture Beyond the Solid, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2026); David Zwirner, Hong Kong (2026); Made in Tension, Soloviev Foundation, New York (2026); Material Worlds, Lustwarande, Tilburg (2026); SculptureCenter (Queens)(2025); and the 12th SITE SANTA FE International Biennial, curated by Cecilia Alemani (2025–2026). 

She holds an MFA from Hunter College and has completed fellowships at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, and Dieu Donné. A recipient of a NYFA Fellowship, Ayres’ work is held in the permanent collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Miami, the Rubell Museum, TANK Shanghai, Muzeum Susch, The Bunker Artspace, and Zuzeum, among others.