Garvey|Simon is pleased to present Sharon Shapiro: Fever Dream, opening January 21, 2022, at Artisan Lofts, 143 Reade Street in TriBeCa. Fever Dream includes a selection of large-scale paintings, and intimate collage works from Sharon Shapiro. Uncanny and incisive, Shapiro draws on her experience growing up female in the American South as fodder for her imagery. Fever Dream is at once narrative and enigmatic, engaging the viewer in a seduction while presenting a contemporary viewpoint on feminism and commentary on racial and climate crisis. The exhibition will be on view at Artisan Lofts until June 16, 2022. The exhibition will be on view by appointment only.

Sharon Shapiro layers elements from traditional American value sets, the artistic canon of the female nude, and surrealism to create her visual narratives. Her depictions of young women capture a transitional space in their development; they wield a power they do not yet know the extent of. Images of sheep – icons of innocence – are interjected amongst the young women, further intensifying the juxtaposition between naivety and experience. Both Shapiro’s painted and collaged women are shown in relaxed, almost languid postures, reminiscent of 18th and 19th-century nude painting. Unlike their predecessors, Shapiro’s women are not filtered through the male gaze and are permitted nuance and complexity. They find ease in unpredictable and brashly-toned dystopic environments and assert themselves within idyllic suburban scenes. Shapiro’s depictions of women in pairs further challenge traditional modes of isolation and objectification. Their sense of independence and vulnerability is bolstered by camaraderie.

Shapiro’s settings for her visual narratives range from rough and dilapidated to pristine upper-middle-class suburbia. These spaces act as air-tight dioramas in which Shapiro experiments with and conflates indicators of time. Homes collapse, foliage grows wildly, pools fill with murky, green water, and colorless vintage images collide with vibrant modern ones. Shapiro's perplexing convergences serve as a reminder that current ideation cannot exist without the passage of time or the intrusion of memory. No moment exists in temporal isolation. She further destabilizes the viewer with drips, sprays, and streaks of hot, electric color. Despite the chaos around them, Shapiro’s young women appear unaffected. Whether they are blithely unaware or reveling in their own power is left to the viewer to determine. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Since 1995, Shapiro's paintings and works on paper have been exhibited in numerous venues including solo shows in Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles. Shapiro has been a resident at Jentel Artist Residency, Banner, WY; Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL; the Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA), Amherst, VA; the Ucross Foundation, Sheridan, WY; and the Hambidge Center for Arts and Sciences, Rabun Gap, GA. She is a 2002 and 2018 recipient of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship. In 2020 she was awarded the Atelier Focus Fellowship at AIR Serenbe Institute in Georgia. Her work is included in several prominent collections throughout the United States, such as The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, GA, and the Tullman Collection, Chicago, IL. 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. Shapiro’s work will be included in Coined in the South at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC this spring and she will be an artist in residence at Virginia Center for the Arts this summer. 

For viewings, more information, high resolution images, or sales inquiries, please contact Elizabeth Garvey at liz@garveysimon.com, or 917-796-2146.