Bridget DeLee
Enigmatic Hue
Opening reception: Thursday, March 26, 6 – 9 pm
Exhibition on view: March 27 – April 10, 2026
Gallery hours: Wednesday – Saturday, noon – 5pm, and by appointment by contacting bdelee@usc.edu
Roski Graduate Gallery (Los Angeles Arts District) 1262 Palmetto St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Enigmatic Hue presents a body of work featuring an amalgamation of paintings and sculptors. One component of the exhibition is large scale abstract paintings; emblems of work transposed into craft from the Gullah Geechie sweet grass basket culture. In conversation with a series of indigo blue portraits that reflect identity, spirituality, and endurance. Indigo, once a symbol of labor and exploitation, becomes a pigment of resistance and memory in its deep hue, a metaphor for the layered histories embedded in skin, water, and land. In tandem with painting, I am exploring glass-fused surfaces, transforming painterly gestures into translucent layers that echo both fragility and permanence.
This body of work delves deeply into the connections between the broader diasporic communities. My research is centered around the exploration of Gullah Geechee cultural traditions. Said traditions include sweetgrass basket weaving, use of blue glass as a form of spiritual protection, and the interplay between the histories of rice and cotton cultivation. These material and histories form a conceptual foundation that connects my own ancestral narrative to the broader legacies of Black labor, resistance, survival, and creativity in the American South. Gleaning a working knowledge of how craft, and resistance circulate through generations
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Bridget DeLee is a Los Angeles based artist, whose practice primarily spans painting and mixed media sculpture. She frequently incorporates materials with cultural significance to Los Angeles and the broader African diaspora. DeLee’s paintings interrelate with a limited color palette and skin pigment that displaces realism, shifting focus to inherent meaning and spiritual depth. Her work is inspired by family photos, urban changes, and sociopolitical themes like race, equity, and displacement. Her recent research and practice concentrated on South Carolina, emphasizing the customary art and practices retained by the Gullah Geechee people.
DeLee’s work has been exhibited at Durden and Ray, VAMA Gallery, The Mistake Room, Track16, Sovern LA and Band of Vices. As an emerging artist, she has contributed to discussions on panels such as Art & Activism: Through the African American Experience. Her sculpture “In Between” was featured in the Los Angeles Times article. Her recognitions include the Winston Russell Hewitt Scholarship, VAMA Scholarship Award, and the Macomber travel grant from USC Roski. DeLee holds a B.A. in Studio Art from California State University- Dominquez Hills. She is a Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship Fellow. Presently, she is a Master of Fine Art candidate at the USC.
