266

Della Wells

(1951-)

You Don't Think I Can't Handle My Chicken? You Are Wrong.

Collage on board, 2024.
Signed and dated ink, lower left.
20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm.), Frame: 25 x 21 x 2 1/4 in. (63.5 x 53.3 x 5.7 cm.)

  • Provenance:
    Courtesy of the artist.
    Consigned to support the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.

  • Exhibited:
    Portrait Society of Contemporary Gallery, Milwaukee, WI. (label).
    Della Wells: Mambo Land, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, May 31 - August 9, 2024.

    Milwaukee native Della Wells is a self-taught artist who began making art at age forty-two, when she realized she had something to say. As a child, she invented stories and characters based on her mother's recollections of growing up in North Carolina during the 1920s through the 1940s. Wells used these stories to escape the uncertainties and instabilities of her family life. This inventive practice led to her later narrative style of art making. Most of Wells' works take place in Mambo Land, a world she created where "Black women rule" depicted in various media, including collage, painting, and fiber.

    Her work has been exhibited in Europe and throughout the United States, including annually at the Outsider Art Fair in New York City and in 2021 at Untitled (Art Basel) Miami. A play about her life, Don't Tell Me I Can't Fly was written for a performance at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. which was also presented in Wisconsin. She has also illustrated two children's books.

    Wells' work is included in the collections of the Milwaukee Art Museum, (Milwaukee, WI), The Chazen Museum of Art (Madison, WI), the Museum of Wisconsin Art (West Bend, WI), Intuit Art Museum (Chicago, IL), University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the Bunker Artspace, (Palm Beach, FL), the Lumber Room Collection (Portland, OR), and many private collections.

    Bio courtesy of Portrait Society of Contemporary Gallery.
  • Condition:
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October 7, 2025 12:00 PM EDT
New York, NY, US

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