Bambi Alder (b. 1996, Mobile, AL) studied at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where they earned a Dual BFA and Certificate in Painting. In 2018, he attended the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art. Their work has been generously funded by grants including the Tallichet Freedman Foundation Grant, the Fine Art Venture Fund, and the Ellen Battel Stoekel Fellowship Grant from Yale University. Alder has exhibited work in New York City, Philadelphia, and Berlin, DE.
Artist Statement:
My painting practice explores themes of earth-based spirituality, queer sexuality, and animal kinship, rendered in a palette that embodies nature at its most heightened. My work is grounded by conversations with queer and trans ancestors, facilitated by archival research of collectives like The Radical Faeries, The Cockettes, and the gay liberation movement of the 1960s-1990s, which used collective living, art making, and experimentation as tools for sustenance and transformation. Drawing together these archival fragments with personal imagery of myself and my friends, my work speaks to a longing for connection across time— a desire to commune with queer ancestors who made survival itself a sacred act of creativity, and to continue in their legacy. Increasingly, my practice also explores affinity with non-human animals; I am compelled by how we form bonds with them and believe it can be an extension of queer family building.
CV:
Born in Mobile, AL, 1996
Lives and works in New York, NY
Education
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Certificate (2018), BFA (2022)
Yale University School of Art, Norfolk Summer Session (2018)
Awards and Honors
2026 Tallichet Freedman Foundation Artist Grant
2022 Fine Arts Venture Fund, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2018 Ellen Battel Stoekel Fellowship Grant, Yale University
Janet Fleisher Prize, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Lewis S. Ware Memorial Travel Scholarship
2017 The Franklin C Watkins Memorial Grant, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Jimmy C. Leuders Painting Prize
2015 Caldwell Scholarship Award, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2014 Thomas Eakins Memorial Scholarship, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Andy Abroms Memorial Scholarship, Indian Springs School
2013 Scholastic Art Award, Gold Key
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Autumn Equinox — Eckert Gallery at Millersville University, Lancaster, PA
2024 Coordinates — The Living Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2023 Painting is Frozen Music — Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2022 throwntogetherness — Bok, Curated by Lino Kino Video Collective, Philadelphia, PA
2021 7300 Pearl — Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA
2020 Hands Full of Air, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju — Galerie im Turm, Berlin, DE
Sand Between My Teeth — Tiger Strikes Asteroid PDF
2019 flower in the snow – Automat Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2018 In Flux - InLiquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
The Annual Student Exhibition - The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Museum, Philadelphia, PA
The Nature of Next (Juried Group Exhibition) - The FMC Corporation, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Crosscurrents (Juried Group Exhibition) - The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Rogue Rogue – Legend Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Bibliography
Speidel, Lane, Painting is Frozen Music, Artblog, June. 8, 2023
Teaching Experience
Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University - Visiting Artist / Lecturer (2018)
Collections
The Horseman Foundation - St. Louis, MO
Curatorial Projects
Rogue Rogue, Philadelphia, PA co-curated with Legend Gallery (2018)
Slipping Recognitions, Philadelphia, PA. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Gallery (2017)
Publications
Guardian Spirit Assigned at Birth, Bambi Alder. Published by Who Press’d Press. 32 pages, edition of 40. Philadelphia, PA 2021.
032C, December 2024, “The New Masculinity by Collier Schorr,” pp. 254, 258. Editorial Model.