Artspace Warehouse
Load Artworks...
 
page banner

Artist

Ashleigh Sumner

Ashleigh Sumner

Ashleigh Sumner is a self-taught artist living and working in Oakland, California. Born in 1979, Sumner received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Western Carolina University before moving West to Los Angeles and then the Bay Area. Sumner has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her works are in private collections, such as in Hong Kong, London, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Much of Sumner’s work is heavily inspired by industrial areas, inner-city communities, and the modern day street art movement. Sumner’s mixed media process often involves iconic images along with photographs captured on her cell phone. These photos are printed and applied repeatedly to wooden surfaces, creating multiple stacked and torn layers of distress paper imagery. Several heavy layers of resin are added to each to create a smooth, modern finish to the distressed, gritty artwork underneath.

VIEW ALL ARTWORKS
Ashleigh Sumner: Night Flyer
Night Flyer US$ 2,500

Ashleigh Sumner

30 x 30 in
76 x 76 cm
Ashleigh Sumner: Birds of Paradise Lost
Birds of Paradise Lost US$ 1,600

Ashleigh Sumner

24 x 24 in
61 x 61 cm
Ashleigh Sumner: Rise Again
Rise Again US$ 3,600

Ashleigh Sumner

36 x 36 in
91 x 91 cm
Ashleigh Sumner: Fool to Cry
Fool to Cry US$ 1,600

Ashleigh Sumner

24 x 24 in
61 x 61 cm
SHOW MORE



Sumner’s work draws from the discarded materials of urban life—shopping bags, street posters, and fragments of advertising ephemera—transforming them into layered visual narratives that reflect the cultural residue of consumerism. Each collage becomes a study of the symbols and hierarchies that shape modern identity, exploring how branding, commerce, and aspiration intersect within everyday experience. Through tearing, painting, sanding, and reconstruction, Sumner reconfigures these remnants into textured compositions that question what we value and why.

In the Maison series, Sumner repurposes luxury brand packaging to examine the allure and influence of corporate imagery. Referencing both contemporary consumer culture and historical displays of wealth, these works investigate how objects and logos serve as modern emblems of status and self-mythology. This inquiry continues Sumner’s long-standing engagement with social commentary, following earlier bodies of work that integrated text, poetry, and political verse within distressed urban surfaces.

Sumner’s work draws from the discarded materials of urban life—shopping bags, street posters, and fragments of advertising ephemera—transforming them into layered visual narratives that reflect the cultural residue of consumerism. Each collage becomes a study of the symbols and hierarchies that shape modern identity, exploring how branding, commerce, and aspiration intersect within everyday experience. Through tearing, painting, sanding, and reconstruction, Sumner reconfigures these remnants into textured compositions that question what we value and why.

In the Maison series, Sumner repurposes luxury brand packaging to examine the allure and influence of corporate imagery. Referencing both contemporary consumer culture and historical displays of wealth, these works investigate how objects and logos serve as modern emblems of status and self-mythology. This inquiry continues Sumner’s long-standing engagement with social commentary, following earlier bodies of work that integrated text, poetry, and political verse within distressed urban surfaces.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
  • “Touch The Sky”, Themes+Projects Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2020
  • “Mortem | Renovamen: The Covid Diaries”, College of Marin, Kentfield, CA
2018
  • “Come as you Are,” Julie Zener Gallery, Mill Valley, CA
2016
  • “Written All Over Your Face”, Zener Schon Contemporary Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015
  • “Horns & Halos,” Zener Schon Contemporary Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014
  • “Graffiti Ballads,” I820 Industrial Street Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2012
  • “Streetwise,” Artamo Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
2010
  • “TenaCITY,” The Advocate and Gochis Gallery, Hollywood, CA
  • “Urban Inspiration,” DEZART Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
  • “Urbanite,” A.Muse Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009
  • “City Scapes,” Downtown Collective Arts Community, Fresno, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS, ART FAIRS, & TELEVISION

2024
  • “Fire in Her Eyes”, Kvasnevski Schwartz Projects, New York, NY
2023
  • “ACHTUNG!”, Mees-Van De Wiele Galerie, Aalst, Belgium
  • “Worth The Detour”, Detour Gallery, New York, NY
  • Grand Opening, Mees-Van De Wiele Galerie, Aalst, Belgium
2020
  • “Visual Response”, Julie Zener Gallery, Kentfield, CA
2019
  • Palm Springs Art Fair, Palm Springs, CA
  • London Art Fair, TAG Fine Arts, London, U.K.
2018
  • Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong
  • “GRIT,” Detour Gallery, Red Bank, NJ
  • “GRIT,” Canvas Gallery, Miami, FL
  • “Clash,” Detour Gallery, Red Bank, NJ
  • “It Runs in the Family,” Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA
  • Affordable Art Fair, London Battersea, London
  • Affordable Art Fair New York, NY
  • Art Palm Springs, CA
2016
  • Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong
  • Affordable Art Fair Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
  • Affordable Art Fair New York, NY
  • London Art Fair, London, United Kingdom
  • LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
2015
  • Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA
  • Art Market, San Francisco, CA
  • Affordable Art Fair New York, NY
  • Zener Schon Contemporary Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
  • LA Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
2014
  • Red Bull Curates, Mack Sennett Studios, Los Angeles, CA
  • SCOPE Miami, Miami, FL
2013
  • “Silence”, Victor Saavedra Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
  • “Words On Printed Page”, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
  • “3W”, Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, CA
  • Affordable Art Fair Seattle, WA
  • “New Style Collage”, Artamo Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
  • Affordable Art Fair New York, NY
2012
  • Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA
  • “Street Preachers”, Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, CA
2011
  • Victor Saavedra Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

2020
  • “Justice”, Marin MOCA, Novato, CA
  • “Marin’s Rock Art Scene”, Marin MOCA, Novato, CA

PRESS, GRANTS, & AWARDS

2020
  • “Justice”, Marin MOCA, Novato, CA
2016
  • Art Al Limite (South America)
2015
  • Luxe Magazine (USA)
2014
  • EDGE Media New York, NY, “Ashleigh Sumner Rocks Artspace Warehouse”
2012
  • Studio City Life Style Magazine, “Ashleigh Sumner”
  • “Street Preachers,” Pasadena Art Alliance Grant
  • “Street Preachers,” Los Angeles Arts Commission Grant
2010
  • American Contemporary Art Magazine, “In Her Own Words”
  • UppRor Magazine, London, “Sumner Time”
  • Bound Magazine, “Catching Ashleigh”