Grace Athena Flott (b. 1990) is a Seattle-based realist painter fascinated by the myth of normalcy and social constructions of health, beauty, and gender. Raised in white suburban America, Flott spent her youth striving toward normalcy in all its forms until she experienced a major biographical disruption that placed her body firmly outside of mainstream representation. Remixing Italian Renaissance iconography and surrealistic narratives, Flott’s lifelike figurative paintings and portraiture speak to the dynamics of representation through a feminist disability justice lens. Premised on the notion that our identities are formed with and against other bodies, Flott’s work invites the viewer into intimate light-filled spaces where her emotive subjects toy with a normative gaze.
Flott is a 2024 Cornish College of the Arts Neddy Award Finalist and was selected to paint the Official Portrait of Washington Governor Jay Inslee by ArtsWA. Her community-based project New Icons received the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Hope Corps Grant with additional support from the Spokane Public Library Hive Artist Residency, Chalk Hill Artist Residency, and Shunpike’s Seattle Restored. Flott has exhibited in two solo shows at the Port of Seattle and Figure|Ground Gallery (Seattle, WA). Her work has exhibited internationally in group exhibitions including with the Museum of Modern European Art, (Barcelona, Spain); Salmagundi Club (NYC); Equity Gallery (NYC); Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati, OH); Maryhill Museum of Art (Goldendale, WA); Seattle Convention Center; Bainbridge Island Museum of Art; and Terrain (Spokane, WA). Flott’s work has been featured in numerous publications including PublicDisplay.Art, Southwest Arts Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur, Realism Today, and the Seattle Met. Her work is held in public collections including with the City of Seattle, Port of Seattle, Washington State Art Collection, and UW Medicine. Flott was selected for the Seattle Public Artist Roster for 2024-2026 for the Office of Artist & Culture. She received her BA from the University of Washington and studied Classical Painting and Drawing with artist Juliette Aristides.
Photo credit: Amber Fouts
Grace Athena Flott CV here.
