Ayin Es

About

Ayin Es is a self-taught, interdisciplinary artist whose work emerges from a life shaped by resilience. Born and raised in Los Angeles, they worked in their family's garment pattern business from age eleven while pursuing careers in music, visual art, and writing. Emancipated at fifteen, Es played drums professionally while continuing their art and writing practice.

By 1999, Es shifted focus from professional music to full-time visual art while managing physical and mental disability. Ayin is a transqueer, nonbinary artist, creating raw, emotionally unguarded work around their trans identity, memory, and family trauma. Their work is held in collections including the Getty, the Brooklyn Museum, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, as well as healing spaces such as UCSF Precision Cancer Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and the Los Angeles General Medical Center.

A two-time ARC Grant recipient from the Durfee Foundation and the National Arts and Disability Center/California Arts Council, Es has received a Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, the Wynn Newhouse Award, and a Bruce Gellar Memorial Award from the American Jewish University. Review publications include Artillery, LA Times, Seattle Times, ArtScene, LA Weekly, and WhiteHot Magazine, among others. Ayin lives and works in Joshua Tree, CA.