chelsea lee palombaro (b. 1990) is a self-taught painter, currently based in austin, tx

artist statement:

My practice centers on abstract painting as a form of inquiry into the self, God, and the experience of being alive. Working with acrylic, spray paint, washes, and layered gestures, I create shifting landscapes that move between the earthly and the otherworldly, the recognizable and the formless. Informed by my background in dance and other embodied creative practices, I approach painting physically, allowing movement, intuition, and play to guide the process. Painting as a meditation, a conversation, a mode of connection, or a door to access: the present moment.

Through my work, I explore questions of faith, identity, belonging, and the relationship between the body and spirit. Painting offers a space to sit with contradiction, metabolize uncertainty, and approach what I cannot yet understand. Rather than seeking definitive answers, I hope to create work that invites viewers into a similar state of openness—one rooted in curiosity, wonder, humor, and reverence for the mystery of being alive right here and now.