Avery Palmer is a painter and sculptor from Arcata, California. Implying bizarre narratives, Palmer’s paintings and sculptures encourage an engagement of the imagination. Inspired most notably by Surrealism, in particular surrealist painter Remedios Varo, his figurative dreamlike art presents ambiguous allegorical scenarios exploring the complex nature of the human condition, the subconscious, and the interconnectedness of all things.

“My work seeks to explore the nature of humanity and to express the inherent complexity and mystery of our relationships to the world we live in and to each other.  Combining familiar imagery in unfamiliar ways, I invent scenarios that can be thought of as puzzles with no right or wrong solutions—and perhaps no solutions for them are possible at all.  These puzzles are analogous to the changing and perpetually unresolved nature of life itself.

Life is amazingly complex and perpetually filled with unanswerable questions, yet each of us must find a way to make some kind of sense of it all. It is in human nature to simplify the world around us so it can be better understood and articulated, but there is inevitably much that is missed when we do this. It is our condition of limited understanding of reality that prompts us to dream and to use our imaginations. My work addresses this condition.​”

From a young age, Palmer was driven to express his active imagination through drawings. He earned his BA in Studio Art at Humboldt State University in Arcata, where he developed a great passion for- and dedication to drawing. Enabled by his development as a draftsman, he branched out to develop his art in the areas of painting and ceramic sculpture. He also has an MFA from San Jose State University.

His work has been exhibited throughout California, Chicago and Seattle. Palmer has shown his work in various galleries throughout the Bay Area including the Art Thou Gallery in Berkeley, the Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco and the Kaleid Gallery in San Jose. His ceramics and paintings have been received with great success at the SOFA Chicago Fair, and Everyday Worlds: Interiors and Exteriors, de Young Museum, San Francisco, as well as the Ceramics Annual Conference 30 Ceramic Sculptors exhibition at the Natsoulas Gallery.

Please join us for the opening reception on November 1 from 7-9pm - featuring live music and free refreshments.

Avery Palmer, Favorite Toy, 2025, oil on canvas, 24" x 20"