Sai Clayton (she/her) is a Nashville-based visual artist and curator. Clayton’s work situates self portraiture and cultural icons as representations of transcultural paradoxes. Her recent exhibitions include:Neutral Zone, The Forge (2024);Game of Two Halves, Electric Shed (2024);HĀFU, Random Sample (2023);Art of the South, Zeitgeist (2022); andDrawers, Adult Contemporary (2022). Residencies include State Gallery, Stove Works, and the Hamblet Artist-in-Residence at Vanderbilt University. She is the Curatorial Director at COOP Gallery in Nashville, and the Executive Director of Number: INC magazine. She was the 2021-22 Curatorial Fellow at the Frist Art Museum, and holds a B.A. in Visual Arts from Middle Tennessee State University.
Artist Statement
My work reflects the absurdity of negotiating between two cultures and races. Combining self portraiture with icons of Japanese and American culture, my work explores dichotomies of masculinity/sensitivity, spectacle/performance and the inner and outer self. New work situates American Football athletes as performers of this transcultural paradox. Adorned with Japanese Noh masks, the football players represent the nexus of personal and national identities.
$1,800.00
