Sharon Shapiro (American, b. 1968, Bluefield, West Virginia) works with diverse media assemblages to convey authentic, humous, and poetic experiences of femininity via a backdrop of American suburban idealism. Her paintings and works on paper have been exhibited in many venues including solo shows in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles. Her artist residencies include Jentel Artist Residency, Banner, WY; Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL; the Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA), Amherst, VA; Ucross Foundation, Sheridan, WY; Hambidge Center for Arts and Sciences, Atelier Focus Fellowship at AIR Serenbe Institute in Georgia. She is a 2002 and 2018 recipient of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship. Shapiro’s work is included in several prominent collections throughout the United States, such as The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, and the Tullman Collection, Chicago. Shapiro holds an MFA from the Maine College of Art (MECA) and a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art. She currently lives and works in Charlottesville, VA.

Artist statement:

Representations of women can agitate for a cultural shift. Wrestling with themes of nostalgia, memory, and femininity, I chronicle the complexities of growing up in the American South. Working with women I know, I stage scenes to photograph, providing the basis for my paintings. 

Beauty is a temptation for the viewer, but upon closer inspection, cracks in the artifice reveal veiled content. In contrast with the natural realism, visual disruption and fluorescent color create a discordant scene that tilts the viewers' relationship with the subject. I evaluate intimacy and access using autobiographical experience to construct a loose narrative. I emphasize their camaraderie, vulnerability, and independence by creating semi-imaginary environments for women in utopian and dystopian settings. 

Examining the past alongside the current racial and climate crises, I confront how the two are inextricably linked. Inspired by personal events, collective myths, and pop culture, I present a world in which time coalesces and collapses.

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