bio

Halie Torris is a figurative oil painter based in Los Angeles, California. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she studied graphic design at Seton Hill University before moving to Maryland’s eastern shore, where the solitude of the coast deeply informed her early work. In 2025, she relocated to the West Coast to continue expanding her practice and immerse herself in new light, landscapes, and creative connections.

Drawing from her background in design and digital media, Torris merges classical oil painting with modern storytelling. Since 2019, she has incorporated video and narrative-driven process sharing as part of her practice, using vulnerability and music to build an online community that has allowed her to sustain her career independently as a full-time artist.

Her work centers around body language, intimacy, and the complexities of sapphic relationships by exploring love, longing, and identity through bold figurative compositions. Each painting acts as a mirror to self-acceptance and queer representation in fine art. Currently, she is developing a new body of work that examines identity and emotional distance within modern relationships, with future plans for public exhibitions that bridge her digital audience with in-person experiences.

My art treats women as subjects - souls - to be understood, not objects to be owned, ogled, or fetishized. Using large-scale, figurative oil paintings I express and explore my sexuality and sensuality creating a safe space for those who question how safe, how valid, their love is.

artist statement

I paint from the sapphic gaze to liberate and celebrate stories that have long been muted, distorted, or discarded by the patriarchal lens, including my own. My work reclaims the right to look, to feel, and to be seen. The women in my paintings are not objects of desire but subjects of depth - souls to be understood rather than owned.

Through large-scale figurative oil paintings, I explore the full expanse of queer love: its intimacy, tension, and tenderness. My practice is an act of reclamation and a safe space for those who have ever questioned the safety or validity of their love.

At my core, I am a storyteller. Each painting invites you into a quiet exchange, offering glimpses into the pulse of sapphic intimacy. From serene fantasies to stormy longing, from fiery want to aching distance… these are the moments that remind us: our love has always been valid, and our stories deserve to be seen.