Verna Estes (b. 1994, Somerville, MA) is a painter living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Her work explores perception and is rooted in problem solving. Experimenting with the endless transformations that a shape, color, surface undergoes when placed in new pictorial contexts or when viewed from new perspectives, an image is "solved" when it surprises and when an ambiguity is reached in spatial and color relationships.
Estes earned her B.A. in biochemistry at Barnard College in 2016 and worked in academic research labs for several years (immunology/ cancer research-- Zha Lab, Columbia University, synthetic organic chemistry-- Woerpel Group, New York University) as well as in art conservation labs at MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum before shifting focus to her painting practice in 2020.