bio

Sharon Shapiro is a Virginia-based artist with a versatile painting practice. She views painting as a cunning vessel for the tension and insatiable longing that lurk beneath the surface. Working in diverse media and sizes, Shapiro portrays opposing forces in her figurative-based work: fantastic and natural, utopian and dystopian subject matter. 

Shapiro has shown throughout the United States, including one and two-person exhibitions at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, NYC; the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, Arlington, VA; {Poem 88} Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Garvey Simon Projects, NYC; and the Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, AL. Her group exhibitions include the Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Maine Center for Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; the McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA; and the Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA. She has been in residence at Ucross, Jentel, Ragdale, The Hambidge Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her practice has received grant support, including two awards from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and she was the recipient of the Atelier Focus Fellowship at AIR SFI in Georgia. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, Whitewall, Art Spiel, Studio Visit, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Kolaj Magazine. Shapiro holds an MFA from the Maine College of Art and a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art. She currently lives and works in Charlottesville, VA.

statement

My work delves into the intricacies of female identity and the multi-faceted experience of growing up in the American South. I examine the impact of this culture on female pleasure and leisure, exploring nostalgia, memory, and womanhood. Focusing on the tensions and aspirations of adolescence and adulthood, I stage women for photographs as a basis for painting.

Using autobiographical experiences to construct loose narratives, I highlight the camaraderie and independence of the women I depict in semi-imaginary utopian and dystopian realms. I incorporate disparate photos, allowing the images to be more of a collage than a singular point of view. Nostalgia is a cautionary muse, challenging viewers to disentangle the threads of myth from the fabric of history, which provokes a critical exploration of these roles in broader cultural narratives.

Dominated by vivid colors, airbrushed graffiti, and neon colors, my palette is a potent vessel of meaning. Hot pinks and reds embody content concerning femininity and feminism; they are also a way to address the climate crisis: raging forest fires and record-setting heat waves conjure these hues. My layered representations of women offer a world where time converges and collapses, questioning existing systems and advocating for cultural shifts.