TERI GANDY-RICHARDSON
my why + mindset

I’ve been based in Brooklyn for a long time, but was born in southern Minnesota, where I spent most of my child hood. My family moved to New York State when my dad’s job relocated us. I was eleven.

The art that I make references body and breath by combining the gestures of nature with an urban rhythm. My interest is to extract the layers of strength and truth that lives within the frayed and weathered pieces of this material and of who we are.

Identifying as an abstract painter, I’m emotionally tied to my exclusive use of Levi’s for historical relevance. I believe that our individual intimacy and familiarity with denim, marks a bond that when exploited through a shared experience stimulates connection, and ground.

My process is to dissect, twist, tie, mold and adhere my worn scraps of Levi’s while using acrylic paint to push the depths of cultural, and historical weight embedded in denim’s history. Because denim has always dressed our culture, our movements, our rebellions and attitudes, for me, it’s an iconic totem and reminder of who were— and who we could be.

@teri.artwork