Initially, I drafted an answer to the question: “How do I rationalize my career expectations?”. It is straightforward, easy to visualize, and meditative. It’s a metaphor that includes a ladder where each rung symbolizes a career goal. The top of the ladder is the dream you hope to achieve one day, and every step downward are little steps you need to take in order to get there. It’s how I always work. I work backwards from top to bottom. Step one, make a painting. Step two, figure out step two. Accomplish step two. Figure out step three. And so on, and so on. Until you reach the top. 

After I wrote my initial draft, I realized how linear it felt. I have career expectations but they’re not as important to me as the community I surround myself with. Somewhere in the career-expectation-linear model we need to leave room for circles. Circles of friends, family, strangers. Circles of moments to ourselves. Career expectations are fun, and ambition is thrilling, but little moments are what give us the energy and happiness to feel good about ourselves.

Jay Miriam –
Painter

In her large-scale oil paintings, Brooklyn-based artist Jay Miriam finds beauty in the mundane. She examines what lies in the ordinary, captivated by the seemingly small moments of life. Miriam’s contemplative practice involves painting from memory, or imagining new worlds from scratch, and through bold mark making and loose brush strokes, creates stories entirely their own. Known for her portrayals of nude feminine figures, Miriam’s subjects exude a playful sense of mystery. She has mounted solo exhibitions in Galleria Richter (Rome, 2022), Catch the Heavenly Bodies (Half Gallery, 2016, New York); Blue Paintings of Women (Ornis A. Gallery, 2014, Amsterdam), and JM (Cudowne Lata, 2011, Krakow) alongside selected group exhibitions in New York, Shanghai, and Los Angeles.  

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