Artist Bio:
Cody Gene (b. 1995) is a painter whose work draws from a private imaginative world he first created as a child while navigating the illness of a parent. This inner landscape, at once spiritual and fantastical, continues to serve as the foundation of his practice today. Through richly narrative compositions, Gene explores themes of salvation, memory, and play, weaving together references to video games, cartoons, social media, and advertising copy. His paintings show an intimacy of personal mythology magnified through a broader cultural lens, inviting viewers into a vivid and layered pictorial universe that speaks to the endless demands of a modern and fragmented cultural climate. Gene lives and works in rural Kansas, where his studio serves as both retreat and point of departure for his ongoing exploration of narrative painting.
Artist Statement:
In the current cultural and political moment, I turn to history and fantasy as guides for navigating the contradictions of contemporary life. My paintings attempt to synthesize the conflicting demands placed on today’s youth: to accumulate wealth while protecting a fragile planet, to embrace education while carrying the burden of systemic debt, to labor tirelessly while watching artificial intelligence consume the very work we were trained to pursue. These tensions create a fractured language in which only fragments feel true. In a society that cannot stop speaking, I ask: which words are worth saying? In an image-obsessed culture, which images are worth seeing? My work searches for answers within these questions.
Cody Gene (b. 1995) is a painter whose work draws from a private imaginative world he first created as a child while navigating the illness of a parent. This inner landscape, at once spiritual and fantastical, continues to serve as the foundation of his practice today. Through richly narrative compositions, Gene explores themes of salvation, memory, and play, weaving together references to video games, cartoons, social media, and advertising copy. His paintings show an intimacy of personal mythology magnified through a broader cultural lens, inviting viewers into a vivid and layered pictorial universe that speaks to the endless demands of a modern and fragmented cultural climate. Gene lives and works in rural Kansas, where his studio serves as both retreat and point of departure for his ongoing exploration of narrative painting.
Artist Statement:
In the current cultural and political moment, I turn to history and fantasy as guides for navigating the contradictions of contemporary life. My paintings attempt to synthesize the conflicting demands placed on today’s youth: to accumulate wealth while protecting a fragile planet, to embrace education while carrying the burden of systemic debt, to labor tirelessly while watching artificial intelligence consume the very work we were trained to pursue. These tensions create a fractured language in which only fragments feel true. In a society that cannot stop speaking, I ask: which words are worth saying? In an image-obsessed culture, which images are worth seeing? My work searches for answers within these questions.