About

Abby Banks is an expansive multimedia artist creating sculptures, photowork, print making, films, presentations and publications. For over twenty years Abby has created photo documentaries about how Artists live and work, and alternative living including Punk House (USA, Abrams NYC) Reduce Psychic Tension (Artists across the EU &UK). She also creates sculptures inspired by personal lexicons; intuitive, personal, social, geographical, visual, and poetic utilizing materials such as ceramics, plaster, wood, original photos, risograph prints and found objects. She has made many short films, has directed many music videos, made art for over a dozen records by various musicians, traveled for a decade with bands across the US, UK & Europe. Abby also collaborates with artists to produce books, zines, and multimedia presentations, as well as print publications to support her exhibitions. She has exhibited her work in formal galleries and unconventional spaces in LA, SF,  Berlin, London, Tokyo, Yokohama, VT, MA, NY. She was co-founder of the Tinderbox art collective, and worked several years at ‘Thank You For Coming’  the conceptual artist residency restaurant in LA (RIP to both!).
 She was a B&W photo instructor at Insight photography program. Abby has led art and photo workshops including recently pinhole photography in the age of tech surveillance, and kitchen lithography. Abby has held artist-in-residencies at the Soil Factory (’25-’26), 309 punk project(’24), Stove Works (’23) and Jacob Berendes infamous CTRI INNOVATIONS.
Her work was recently in a group show at the Pensacola Museum of Modern Art (’25) and at UC Davis art museum twenty years ago. Her work has been featured in the NYT, Spin, Arthur Mag, and many online spaces. Last year Abby’s printed matter was acquired by the library of SFMoMA, and this year the UC Berkeley library special collections.