Krista Dedrick-Lai

The paintings of Krista Dedrick-Lai are dynamic, powerful abstract representations and stories of the artist's experiences with anxiety, sleep paralysis, and mental illness.

TARA BLACKWELL is American but lives in North America

Philadelphia, PA
Mental Health AWARENESS
Identity

Her STORY

Krista Dedrick-Lai is a multidisciplinary artist based in Philadelphia, PA. Exploring emotion, bodily experiences, and her personal history through her art, Dedrick-Lai composes pieces that speak to the ever-changing, transformative nature of life. Each texture, color, and composition immerses the viewer in melancholy emotion and energy that tells us the story of Dedrick-Lai’s experiences. Many who look at her pieces can find themselves in the movement and feeling painted upon the surface.

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Dedrick-Lai's work has been on view in galleries across the country and in virtual spaces such as I Like Your Work, Dear Artists and Stay Home Gallery. Recently Krista completed a residency with Stay Home Gallery in Paris, TN. In 2021, a poster Krista created in collaboration with Mural Arts and Streets Dept was collected by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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What we love
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Dedrick-Lai’s figures and dreamscapes are created with bold, contrasting colors reflecting chaotic environments and the swirling storms of existence. We feel as close as we can to the worlds within Dedrick-Lai’s mind. There is love and immense care, but there is also a relatable anxiety, chaos, and sadness. The narratives she builds are a collective experience connecting her stories to her viewer’s emotions. What she creates in her artwork is a visual language that speaks for the experiences that words alone cannot explain. By viewing the application of creativity, paint, and powerful movement, there is a deep visceral feeling that helps us connect to the emotion.

As a woman my identity is always shifting- both in the eyes of others and in the way I feel- even the aspects of myself I allow myself to claim. This can be a painful and intense process. I often express all this through a sense of rumination or anxious energy that is conveyed through my mark making. Bold marks, along with my vivid color choices, represent movement, emotion and a palpable sense of being alive.
- Krista Dedrick-Lai
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IMPACT

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS
“My work sits at an intersection of my personal experience with bipolar disorder, anxiety, motherhood, gender and sexual identity. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that all of these themes are forever slicing through my work, as they slice through me. Sometimes exquisitely. Sometimes devastatingly. Or perhaps it is better to say that my work is an attempt to separate the un-separatable, like a prism neatly refracting white light into the seven rainbow colors. To make my experience bite size, for easier consumption. To over-answer a question that was never asked. To overshare with a bewildered stranger.” Krista Dedrick-Lai

SHOP ARTIST'S WORKS

Krista Dedrick-Lai

ASYMPTOTE

COLLECTIVE POWER
$5,950

Krista Dedrick-Lai

MOTHER MONSTER

Mental health
$1,200

Krista Dedrick-Lai

THE COST

MENTAL HEALTH
$4,950

IIHA TV

PRESS

Wanying Jin

China

Theodosia Marchant

Greece

Bud Snow

United States

Alba Páramo

Mexico

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR IMPACT & HOW WE UPLIFT WOMEN &
NON-BINARY PEOPLE

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