Bio

Arabella is an artist and author living with terminal cancer, navigating what that means for her digital legacy. Her work combines interests in portraiture, visionary art, the history of medicine, and biomorphic abstraction. She combines her traditional oil painting practice with her recent digital one. Earning her BFA from California Institute of the Arts, Arabella’s work is in over 60 private collections, and she participated in exhibitions throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. She has authored several art books including, The National Portrait Gallery of Kessa: The Art of Arabella Proffer (2011) Gurls (2016-17) and The Restrooms of Cleveland (2019) . She was awarded an Ohio Arts Council grant, Akron Soul Train Fellowship, a Rauschenberg Foundation award, and a Satellite Award from the Andy Warhol Foundation. Arabella has been recognized by both the Ohio House and Senate for Exemplary Attainment in the arts. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Drop Magazine, The Plain Dealer, The Portland Review, Hi-Fructose, Juxtapoz, The Harvard Gazette, Scene Magazine, Snob Russia, SF Weekly, Dallas Arts Review, Pittsburgh City Paper, Westfälische Nachrichten, Hektoen International Medical Journal, Creative Minds in Medicine, and more. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and bred in Southern California, she lives on the shores of Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio.