A boy sitting on a chair in an art studio with three paintings of animals and a person on the wall behind him.

About

Christian Bañez is a visual artist and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. Working primarily in painting and drawing, Bañez explores the architectures of memory, intimacy, and identity through an observational yet dreamlike lens. His images trace the emotional residue of domestic spaces and human connection, creating quiet worlds that hover between the familiar and the imagined.

Bañez holds a BFA from Missouri Western State University and has attended residencies at the New York Academy of Art and the Bischoff Inn. His work has been exhibited with the Charlotte Street Foundation (Kansas City, MO), Immaterial Projects Group (Brooklyn, NY), Rockella Space (Queens, NY), Visible Records (Charlottesville, VA), and Hawthorn Contemporary (Milwaukee, WI), among others.

“ 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

Connect:

@christianbanez_

studio@christianbanez.com

Selected Exhibitions:

Stuck in Saṃsāra

Bunker Projects

Pittsburgh, PA 2026

“Becoming Embodied”

220 Bogart

Brooklyn, NY 2025

“Presence // Absence”

Rockella Space

Queens, NY 2024

“Ritual/Reverence”

Immaterial Projects Group

Brooklyn, NY 2024

“Entre Nos; Aesthetics of Undocumentedness”

Visible Records

Charlottesville, VA 2023

“Grasping Tenderness: Explorations of Queer Joy & Freedom, in Spite of Everything”

Hawthorn Contemporary

Milwaukee, WI 2023

“With Liberty and Justice”

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