Math Bass

Math Bass is a Los Angeles-based artist who works across performance, sculpture and video art, but its her super-stylised, flat gouache paintings that really stand out for us. With their constantly recurring motifs - matches, crocodiles, cigarettes, the number eight (or is it binoculars?!) and the occasional flower - these paintings are like some indecipherable private heiroglyphic code. The series, started in 2012 and still ongoing, is called 'Newz', a word that can be spelled out from elements in nearly all the paintings if you look closely enough (and stretch your imagination). There's something beguiling about this continuous experimentation with the same elements, seeing where they can be pushed and what results she can achieve within this baffling private world.

All images © Math Bass