June Edmonds is known for her dynamic abstract paintings, rendered in bold palettes of acrylic, which draw inspiration from her ruminations on Black history and her own African American roots. Her works reference specific events, individuals, and traditions, amassing an oeuvre that honors Black joy, strength, resilience, and power. Among the topics Edmonds has engaged in her work are the Great Migration, the quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend, and the reimagination of the American flag to recognize the long-standing commitment and sacrifice of African Americans in the fight for democracy and justice—lending weight to, and offering new perspectives on, varied histories.
Edmonds’s signature language of abstraction embodies meditation and spirituality. She populates her paintings with geometric forms comprised of compounding bands of vivid color. Using impasto techniques, Edmonds incorporates a tactile, dimensional component to her paintings. Through her use of repetitions and patterns in color and texture, Edmonds invokes a meditative experience both in process and for viewers.
Edmonds was the subject of a mid-career survey at the Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California in 2021. Other institutions that have presented Edmonds’s work include The Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades, California; California African American Museum, Los Angeles; Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Massachusetts; Riverside Art Museum, California; and Davis Museum of Art, Wellesley College, Massachusetts. Her work can be found in the collections of institutions such as the California African American Art Museum, Los Angeles; Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Massachusetts; the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Massachusetts; and Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California. Edmonds is a recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Fine Arts, a MacDowell Fellowship, The AWARE Prize at The Armory Show, and a Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture residency, among many other honors.
Edmonds lives and works in Los Angeles, California, where she was born in 1959. The artist is represented by Galerie Lelong, New York and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
