Jai Rivadeneira is an Oregon-raised mixed media artist based in Portland whose work moves between the lush landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and the high desert of Taos, New Mexico. Though formally trained in graphic design, her BFA informs her abstract painting practice through a deep understanding of composition, scale, balance, and color.
Her practice is deeply shaped by a nomadic history. After leaving Portland in 2012, she traveled throughout Utah, Washington, New Mexico, and Colorado before placing her belongings in storage for a year of international travel in 2025. This period of movement and shifting environments continues to influence her work as an ongoing study of transition and place. She eventually returned home to Portland, where she continues her studio practice today.
Drawing from the lineage of Abstract Expressionism, Rivadeneira's work explores the intersection of textured landscape and atmospheric rhythm, guided by intuition and emotional response. Her process often incorporates natural materials and pigments, including earth gathered from the New Mexico terrain during her 2022 UETF Albuquerque Resiliency Residency.
Her work has been exhibited nationally, including the 2021 solo exhibition Neither Here Nor There at Gallery 606, which explored themes of transition and identity. Her paintings are held in permanent collections including New Mexico government facilities in Santa Fe and the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
"My work navigates a threshold where physical landscapes dissolve into ethereal atmosphere. Pulling geographical inspiration from the North and Southwest (and beyond), the paintings describe a place that does not exist yet feels hauntingly familiar, a phantom terrain built from intuition and memory. I build surfaces through a process of accumulation and reduction. Rooted in Abstract Expressionism, I channel free-association to guide my initial marks, layered acrylic, soft washes, and collage with paper and pumice develop into textures that hold both density and air. Pigments at times are harvested from my surroundings. I welcome crusts, soft opacities, and erosion as these materials allow the paintings to remain open, resisting fixed conclusions. Central to the work is a tension between beauty and the grotesque. I am drawn to surfaces that feel simultaneously lush and pressurized, where light competes with visceral textures suggesting sediment and decay. Expressions captured in a seemingly weightless space, lingering in a state of anticipation. Each painting holds a moment just before something fully arrives." |
Media: Acrylic | Mixed Media | Painting
Studio Number: 103
Address: 412 NW Couch Street, Unit 403 Portland OR 97209
Community: NW Portland
Accessibility: Not Wheelchair accessible
Email: jai@flawlesslyodd.com
Website: flawlesslyodd.com
Instagram: @flawlesslyodd
YouTube: @FlawlesslyOdd
