Zoe Axelrod, Artist

Zoe Axelrod is an 18- year old North Hollywood High School graduate. She has been painting on bubble wrap for over 5 years, and had a showing of bubble wrap pieces at Buster’s coffee shop in South Pasadena from 2003-2005. Zoe recently graduated from the USC Ryman School of Fine Arts for high school students. She was also the artist of the cover and inside art for the CD Songs of Shiloh. Zoe’s most recent showings were in Cactus Gallery’s “FOUND”, “Día de los Muertos” and “Icons” shows. After graduating, Zoe will attend the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where she will major in Environmental Design and minor in Culture and Politics.

Zoe got the idea to paint on bubble wrap when her family made the move into their new home; Zoe saw bubble wrap overflowing from boxes and began to paint on its bumpy surface. Zoe used oil paint for her first two paintings, but found that the oils corroded the plastic bubble wrap, and has since used acrylic paints. The bubble wrap creates an interesting pointillism effect; the image becomes more decipherable as the viewer steps away from the painting.

Zoe’s goal as an artist is to redefine the notion of what art is made of and what messages can be sent by using different materials and experimenting with texture, form and space. In the future, she wishes to go beyond just making statements and make a direct impact on the way people live, by making her art functional in daily life. She wants to solve social and environmental problems with her artwork.

While she hasn’t had the opportunity to realize these dreams yet, Zoe has started down that path, experimenting with everything from printmaking to watercolor to multi-media sculpture, and viewing anything she gets her hands on as potential material, from bubble wrap to chicken wire to glass.