| Artist | Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman | Resides | Canada |
| Website | sullivanbeeman.com | Medium | Oil Egg tempera |
| Representing Gallery | Modern Eden Gallery San Francisco, CA. USA Musonium Gallery Palm Springs, CA. USA Spence Gallery Toronto, ON. Canada | dsb@sullivanbeeman.com | |
| Follow the Artist | Instagram | Facebook | Themes | Labyrinths Powerful Feminine Surrealism Divine feminine Feminine power Mythology Nature Spirituality Symbolism & Archetypes Dreamlike |
| Press | .sullivanbeeman/press |
About the artist
Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman is a surrealist painter born out of the 3rd Wave of Feminism. She came into her own in Los Angeles in the 1990s alongside cultural movements like riot grrrl, Queercore, and DIY. As a self-taught artist, Sullivan-Beeman utilizes many DIY ethics and methods.
Her paintings are a palimpsest that employs the imposed history and lore of the “girl” in empowering femininity. Her young women find their strength in a multitude of potentialities and sexualities. The iconography and simulacra in her transcendental works emerge from someplace subliminal. These elements reflect her view of the world and have metaphorical meaning through investigation of identity, gender, otherworldly narratives, and mythical animal personas. She often uses her dream journal as inspiration, exploring the collective unconscious with an overt curiosity for the bizarre and esoteric such as alchemy and the tarot. She paints using a modified oil and egg tempera Renaissance technique.
Sullivan-Beeman is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, working between Vancouver, BC and Los Angeles. Her work has been shown in galleries and institutions internationally, and she is a three-time Finalist in the Art Renewal Center’s Imaginative Realism category.
Artwork Themes & Subject Matter
Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman’s work explores themes of feminine strength, inner wisdom, and the liminal space between reality and the fantastical. Her paintings and drawings center on young femme figures—seekers or dreamers—who inhabit richly symbolic, otherworldly environments. Often accompanied by animal familiars, these heroines teeter on the edge of naïveté while remaining powerfully wise. Rooted in magical realism and surrealism, her compositions draw on mythology, folklore, and esoteric traditions. Her work examines the lore of the “girl” to question gender roles and critique portrayals of young women in popular culture, empowering femininity through deeply personal and idiosyncratic imagery. She constructs fantastical narratives using allegory and iconography—glyphs, signs, and symbols that often originate in dreams and are assembled from composite references. Her practice is grounded in the Renaissance-era Mische Technique—a labor-intensive layering of tempera and oil paints historically used by men. By reclaiming this method, she merges tradition with feminist agency.
Press
Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman’s work has been featured in numerous notable publications, including Beautiful Bizarre, Create! Magazine, Artillery Magazine, Juxtapoz, Art & Cake, LA Weekly, Hi-Fructose, Whitehot Magazine, Mirror Magazine, VICE, and The Huffington Post, Art Renewal Center Yearly Publication. Her art is also showcased in her 2024 book, Into The Hazel Woods.
Upcoming Exhibitions
| When | Exhibition | Gallery |
| June 2025 | Group exhibition: ‘The Portrait Show 13’ | Modern Eden Gallery San Francisco, CA. USA |
CV
Education
1983
Cinema/TV BFA, University of Southern California, United States
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022
The Ceremony of Innocence, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA. United States
Delirium, Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago, IL. United States
2021
No Living Creature Knows, KP Projects, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2019
Heavy Water, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Anima Mundi: all in print, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA. United States
2017
Girls, Girls, Girls, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2016
Swallowing the Stone, Stephen Romano Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. United States
One, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
Dreamland Awaits, curated by Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Corey Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
San Francisco Art Fair, Spence Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Eutierria & Solastalgia, Musonium Gallery, Palm Springs, CA. United States
Outside In, Torrance Art Museum (TAM), Torrance, CA. United States
Year of the Snake, Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA. United States
2024
The Feminine Divine, The FORMah, New York, NY. United States
Initiation, Musonium Gallery (Grand Opening), Palm Springs, CA. United States
Field Trip, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA. United States
Precious Metal, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA. United States
The Year of the Dragon, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA. United States
2023
Reverie, curated by Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Modern Eden, San Frncisco, CA. United States
MASS, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA. United States
The 18th Annual Blab! Show, curated by Monte Beauchamp, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. United States
Beyond the Horizon, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA. United States
Salon des Refuses, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau, WI. United States
2021
Lore, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA. United States
The 16th Annual Blab! Show, curated by Monte Beauchamp, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. United States
36th Annual Art Exhibition, Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH), Lancaster, CA. United States
Onward 2.0, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2020
2020: Our Vision. Our Voices., Sloan Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Little Big V, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY. United States
Scope Art Fair, Scope Immersive, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
The 15th Annual Blab! Show, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. United States
Allegory, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY. United States
Art Matters More Now Than Ever, Phylogeny Contemporary, Seattle, WA. United States
Mermay, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA. United States
2019
Pulse Art Fair, Phylogeny Contemporary: Booth 315, Miami Beach, FL. United States
The 14th Annual Blab! Show, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. United States
La Lune II, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY. United States
Elements, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY. United States
LA Art Show, Copro Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2018
Little Big IV, Haven Gallery, Northport, NY. United States
Life in This Ocean, Annenberg Community Beach House, Santa Monica, CA. United States
Crime on Canvas: Life is Beautiful Festival, M Modern Gallery, Life is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, NV. United States
The 13th Annual Blab! Show, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica CA. United States
Seattle Art Fair, Phylogeny Contemporary, Seattle, WA. United States
Pop+X — Art! Vancouver, Vancouver Convention Centre International Art Fair, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Simpatico, Phylogeny Contemporary, Seattle, WA. United States
Freedom: An Artistic Interpretation, Belskie Museum of Art and Science, Closter, NJ. United States
2017
Crime on Canvas: Life is Beautiful Festival, M Modern Gallery, Life is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, NV. United States
In My Head, Merlino Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy
Art! Vancouver, Vancouver Convention Centre International Art Fair, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Laluzapalooza 2017, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Hive Tarot 8, The Hive Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2016
Aqua Art Miami: “A Constellation” , Phylogeny Contemporary Miami, FL. United States
New-Mexi-Low-Down, Greg Moon Art, Taos, NM. United States
Crime on Canvas: Life is Beautiful Festival, M Modern Gallery & CUR8L8— Life is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, NV. United States
Fantastic Feminist Figuration, Groundspace Project, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Memento Mori: Skulls & Bones in Art, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA. United States
We Choose Art/A Feminist Perspective, MuzeuMM, Los Angeles, CA. United States
The Art of Calm, Stillness & Serenity, SugarMynt Gallery, South Pasadena, CA. United States
Nude Survey 5, MuzeuMM, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Laluzapalooza 2016, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Nude Survey 4, Jai & Jai Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
2015
Ink & Clay 41, Kellogg University Art Gallery, Pomona, CA. United States
Wood, Metal, Screw, Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Libertine, Gristle Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. United States
After Dark IV, Greg Moon Art, Taos, NM. United States
Bunnymania, curated by Peter Frank for National Museum of Animals & Society, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Fluent Imprint Project, C Emerson Fine Arts, St Petersburg, FL. United States
Laluzapalooza 2015, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States
