About
Christian Bañez is a Filipino-American interdisciplinary artist working in painting, drawing, zines, and community-centered projects. Bañez explores the architectures of memory, symbolism, and identity through an observational yet dreamlike lens. His images trace the emotional residue of shared cultural symbols along with his own personal iconography, creating quiet worlds that hover between the familiar and the imagined.
Bañez holds a BFA in Studio Art from Missouri Western State University and has attended residencies at the New York Academy of Art and the Bischoff Inn in Tamaqua, PA. His work has been exhibited with Charlotte Street Foundation (Kansas City, MO), Immaterial Projects Group (Brooklyn, NY), Rockella Space (Queens, NY), Visible Records (Charlottesville, VA), Hawthorn Contemporary (Milwaukee, WI), and Bunker Projects (PIttsburgh, PA) among others.
Born in Cebu City, Philippines
Currently based in Brooklyn, NY
Connect:
@christianbanez_
studio@christianbanez.com
“ Making art is my mode of sharing perspective. Through image-making, I'm able to consolidate the abstracted thoughts and ideas I have in my head into representative imagery.
I don’t expect everyone that sees my artwork to fully understand my lived experience as a formerly undocumented, queer, Asian American immigrant who grew up in rural America. But there are universal themes of isolation, nostalgia, and hope in my artwork that I use to reach across any division.
Through illustrating concepts of my varying identities and experiences, I've been able to share these ideas even with others who have completely different ways of life and ideals. From there, I hope to start a dialogue with viewers and leave the floor open to work out the nuanced elements together. “
CV
Education:
BFA - Fine Arts, Studio Art - Painting
Missouri Western State University
St. Joseph, Missouri 2018
BS - Health Science
Truman State University
Kirksville, Missouri 2014
Selected Exhibitions:
Stuck in Saṃsāra
curated by Brent Nakamoto
Bunker Projects
Pittsburgh, PA 2026
Becoming Embodied
curated by Jaza Samuel
220 Bogart
Brooklyn, NY 2025
Presence // Absence
curated by Britt Harrison
Rockella Space
Queens, NY 2024
Ritual/Reverence
curated by Immaterial Projects Group
Brooklyn, NY 2024
Entre Nos; Aesthetics of Undocumentedness
curated by Erika Hirugami
Visible Records
Charlottesville, VA 2023
Grasping Tenderness: Explorations of Queer Joy & Freedom, in Spite of Everything
curated by Monica Miller
Hawthorn Contemporary
Milwaukee, WI 2023
With Liberty and Justice
curated by Kimi Kitada
Charlotte Street Foundation
Kansas City, MO 2021
New York Academy of Art SURP Exhibition
New York Academy of Art
New York, NY 2021
Your Best American Boy (Solo Exhibition)
Aircrafts Engraving Gallery
St. Joseph, MO 2021
Residencies:
Bischoff Inn Artist Residency
Bischoff Inn
Tamaqua, PA, 2024
New York Academy of Art Summer Undergraduate Residency Program
New York Academy of Art
New York, NY, 2021
ECAASU Artist in Residence
East Coast Asian American Student Union, 2020