About

Colton Teri (b. 1998) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Washington, D.C., working across mixed and digital media. A graduate of The Cooper Union School of Art, Teri draws from a range of interests including early 2000s counterculture, skateboarding, and basketball.

Influenced early on by magazines like SWINDLE and through an apprenticeship at Shepard Fairey’s Los Angeles studio, Teri built a foundation in bold design and rigorous experimentation. That same mix of control and chaos runs through his work, a steady process of layering and breaking things down to build something stronger and more honest.

Teri was also exposed early to creativity through Joy of Motion dance studio, founded by his father. Seeing untethered self-expression helped shape his belief that art is both personal and communal, something necessary for connection and growth.

Teri has exhibited independently with the support of friends and family, operating outside the gallery system. His exhibitions include Preservation (2023), 23 (2023), Hoop Dreams (2021), and Ready for Nothing (2020), among 7 others.

Artist Statement

My work comes from the physical things I have interacted with over and over again, the objects that have lived with me and carry the marks of time and use. I think about weathered skateboards pushed for miles in the summer or playing basketball until the ball gets slick with sweat and leaves prints on the hot cement. The way those objects produce marks, and how visceral those images stay with me, I try to recreate every time I create a work of art.

I am interested in how something worn or overlooked can hold a different kind of beauty when it is seen in a new way. Taking these objects and giving them new meaning, framing them, or placing them in a space where they can be looked at closely turns them into something worth paying attention to.

I use whatever feels right. Sometimes that is paint or wood, sometimes it is basketballs, insulation foam, or something I pick up off the street. I like materials that already have a story. When they come together, they form new textures and meanings I could not plan for. It is messy, but that is what makes it feel alive.

The other side of my practice is about showing the work, not just making it. Over the years I have produced independent art shows with the help of friends and family, turning warehouses, backyards and empty retail spaces into places where people can gather. I see the exhibition as part of the artwork itself. The act of bringing people together, and curating how pieces are seen all carry the same intention as making the work.

What matters to me most is that people from different backgrounds can find something in common in front of the art. If two people who might never cross paths end up standing next to each other, talking about a piece in one of my shows, that means something. That kind of connection is what I want my work to make possible.