Carm, Cat (Catherine) and Olive, 2024

Saldamando forgoes the conventions of painting in favor of materials and subjects that suggest alternative experiences and forms of artmaking. In her Embrace series (2009–ongoing), floral printed-cotton bedsheets sourced from thrift shops and strung over a clothesline become fields for blue-ink drawings of queer couples—friends and members of the artist’s community—kissing, embracing, and simply lounging. Her nontraditional medium choice of ballpoint pen has two pivotal influences: as a young person active in San Francisco Mission District’s punk subculture, she found inspiration in paño art (handkerchiefs drawn upon with pen by incarcerated people) and Teen Angel magazines, which featured stylized illustrations of Southern California street culture. As well, Saldamando brings the same ink drawing techniques and linear aesthetic that characterize her fine art to her work as a tattoo artist.