I’m Erica Meimei—an artist based in Greater Boston.
I make vibrant, joyful work about the people, places, and traditions that connect us to each other. I believe play is one of the most overlooked forms of connection, and most of my work is an argument for taking joy seriously.
Get to Know Me ☀
Somewhere along the way, most of us were taught that being an adult means being serious.
My work gently argues otherwise. The paintings are full of color and movement because that's what joy actually looks like: alive, a little messy, impossible to ignore.
I work almost exclusively in oil pastel. I love how direct it is: there's no brush between me and the surface, just my hand, the color, and the pressure behind it.
My subjects range from Boston landmarks and New England landscapes to cultural memory work like The Lion Dance Project, an ongoing series exploring lion dance, Chinatown identity, and the way traditions carry meaning across generations.
Originally from Pasadena, California, I studied visual journalism at the University of Southern California. I've also worked as an assistant art conservator, restoring historic paintings for museums and private collections, a job that taught me how much power a single image can hold.
In 2023, I founded ART BLOCK, a free community art gathering that's grown to more than 250 members across three chapters in Greater Boston. It's the same belief in a different form: that making things together, with no pressure to be good at it, is one of the best ways to build real community.