Annesta Le

Annesta Le is a multimedia artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Le left the University of Texas where she was studying computer science and, following intensive work with a Jungian psychoanalyst and a life-altering visit to the Brazilian rainforest, she shifted from occasional drawing and painting at home to a rigorous studio practice. As the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, the work of positioning herself vis a vis society and finding ways to translate her inner life is an ongoing process reflected in her work in ways that are—like any human subject—constantly undergoing change. Her work can be divided into two very different but parallel (and occasionally overlapping) practices: sculpting in illuminated neon and drawing in marker. Le’s neon sculptures are not fabricated. The artist creates the shapes herself through an intensively intuitive process that imbues the minimalist works with a bodily and psychic presence. Her drawings are similarly psychological in both production and content. As a daily practice that involves little to no preconceived images, the small, bright, drawings of forms reminiscent of vegetable life and female anatomy, operate as sort of automatic writing. Le’s neon sculptures were the subject of a solo show at Yi Gallery in New York City in 2020. She is the recipient of a grant from the Peter S. Reed Foundation and both her practice and her person have been the subject of numerous pieces of writing.