Shapeshifters

Reception: Wednesday, September 20, 5-7pm

Shapeshifters explores themes of change and transformation. Drawing on the fantastical, morphological, and psychological associations with shapeshifting, the participating artists seek to transgress or transcend the corporeal and psychic dimensions of the self or the collective consciousness. Themes of impermanence and fragility also permeate the work, both in terms of its content and material.

Multidisciplinary artist Anukriti explores meditative reinventions of prayer that seek to embody notions of queer spirituality. Aris Moore (Montserrat College of Art ’98) reinvents ideas of portraiture through the creation of anthropomorphic figures that represent or stand-in for a myriad of human emotions that are both endearing and complex. Boston-based artist, Rose Ranauro, creates vibrant paintings that depict contorted and mutable bodies, often through aspects of play and movement, that serve as proxies for the artist’s own body and find connections between her intuitive self and the physical body. In a new and ongoing series of drawings, Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda (Montserrat College of Art ’05) depicts varied drawings of heads of faces that emit or absorb light, reflecting a continuous state of transformation.

Anukriti works in various media, including painting, sculpture, and animation. They received a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in 2021 from the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM).  Anukriti has exhibited their work locally including the Distillery Gallery and a recent solo exhibition at the Boston Center for the Arts Mills Gallery in 2022.  Anukriti divides their time between Boston and New Delhi.

Aris Moore graduated with her BFA in painting and drawing from Montserrat College of Art in 1998. She previously taught visual art at Pentucket Regional Middle School in West Newbury, Massachusetts for twenty-one years.  In 2012, Aris earned her MFA in painting and drawing from the Art Institute of Boston. She has exhibited throughout the United States and her work has been included in art fairs throughout Europe. Her inaugural solo exhibition was presented by Jack Hanley Gallery in NYC in 2012. Recent press includes the northeast edition of New American Paintings, Creative Block and Collage by Danielle Krysa, and Fukt Magazine.  Aris lives and works in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Rosie Ranauro is a multi-disciplinary artist, working predominantly in painting and performance. She lives in Jamaica Plain, MA, and graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2011 with a BFA in painting. She is currently an artist in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts. Ranauro has exhibited her work locally and internationally, most recently at Untitled, Miami and a 2021 solo show with Lamontagne Gallery called ‘Grow More Eyes’, which explored the resiliency of the body.

Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda was born in Malaga, but raised in the Canary Islands, Spain. She currently lives and works in Hudson, NY. She holds an MFA from Hunter College, NY and a BFA from Montserrat College of Art. Her work has been included in national and international exhibitions including; HallSpace, Boston, MA; ProtoGomez Gallery, New York, NY; A.I.R Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; The Panacea Museum, Bedford, U.K; Bronx Art Space, Bronx, NY and The Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA. Her work has been covered by publications including; The Boston Globe, Hyperallergic, Artscope, The Brooklyn Rail, The Brooklyn Paper and Vanity Fair Italia. She has received numerous fellowships to attend artist residencies, including; Residency 108, Germantown, NY, Jentel Arts, Sheridan, WY and Saltonstall, Ithaca, NY.

Related Events:

Artist Talk: Catalina Viejo, Wednesday, September 20, 11-12pm

Artist Talk: Rosie Ranauro, Wednesday, October 18, 11-12pm

 

Image: Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda. Drawings detail from the series Light Beings, 2023.