Claire Chambless (b.1989 Houston, TX) is a Los Angeles based interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture. Her artworks reconfigure or remix semiotic systems at multiple strata simultaneously using a limited visual language of culturally-loaded symbols: pearls, bones, Easter eggs, black latex, etc. At once deeply personal and universally resonant, her materially intricate works are both parafictional allegories and theatrical ’situations’ or ‘sets’ that invite the viewer to participate in rethinking various aspects of contemporary culture. Her most recent research centers on the ways haunting and cultural melancholia are sublimated into ecstatic experiences, ranging from the religious to the psychedelic. 

Chambless received her BA at Davidson College and her MFA at the California Institute of the Arts. Recent exhibitions include: Davidson College, Charlotte, NC; Fellows of Contemporary Art (FOCA), Los Angeles, CA; Sargents' Daughters, Los Angeles, CA; MAK Center for Art & Architecture Mackey Apartments, Los Angeles, CA; Oolong Gallery, San Diego, CA; Office Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Wonzimer, Los Angeles, CA; The End, Atlanta, GA; Flux Factory, New York, NY; La MaMa Gallery, New York, NY; the New Wight Biennial at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA; and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA. She has been supported by the City of Atlanta, Fulton County Arts and Culture Council, Walthall Fellowship, the James G. Pepper Scholarship, and the Lillian Disney Scholarship, among others. Her work has been featured in Artforum online, Artillery, Tzvetnik, LA Weekly, Burnaway and ArtsATL, among others. Her work is included in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; LACMA, Los Angeles, CA; and the Bunker, Palm Beach.