A Dangerous Toy Indeed!, 2026, acrylic, modeling paste, marker on canvas, 16 x 20 inches

aimee coello received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2025. She currently lives and works in Las Vegas, NV.Coello has been featured in several group exhibitions, including the Desert Biennial Project, Las Vegas, NV (2025); her B.F.A. Thesis Show at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2025); You Are Here: 36°06'31.5"N 115°08'18"W at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2024); Arts in the Center Bright Futures, Strongest Emerging Artists at the Composer’s Room, Las Vegas, NV (2024); and the Student Opening Show at the Student Union, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2024). Her public work includes a 2025 mural at Scarlet Sage for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her upcoming exhibition, To The Left, is scheduled for 2026-2027 at the Debra March Center of Excellence Gallery in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I create works exploring themes of memory, mental health, and internalization through a form of non-direct self-portraiture. Combining concepts of literary nonsense and cosmic horror, my work centers on recurring unnamed creatures: The Red Head Girl(s) placed within wondrous and surreal environments. They travel through dreamy settings that serve as passages for self-reflection, nostalgia, and reincarnation.Through this character, I explore the desire to return to moments in the past, to reconsider what was said or done, and to confront the weight of those decisions. The questions I ask in my work revolve around these moments of reflection: What if we could go back? What if a single choice had been different? The answers take shape as alternate realities, imagined outcomes born from everyday decisions transformed into settings in balance of awe and dread.With exploring answers, I combine saturated psychedelic visuals with bold, dreamlike colors to evoke emotions of dread, confusion and nostalgia. I build atmospheres that embraces fear and awe simultaneously, layering symbols such as stuffed animals, desserts, mushrooms, rainbows, and Lovecraftian iconography to suggest corrupted childlike wonders.

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