Kelly Sherman

Kelly Sherman received her BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in 2002 and currently lives in Cambridge, MA. A recent artist-in-research at the Berwick Research Institute and artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center, she has exhibited in New York City, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and exhibits regularly at the Barbara Krakow Gallery in Boston, MA. Currently working on a conceptual wall mural project with class of 4th graders from a Cambridge Public School, her work is also on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in their new waterfront building. Her conceptually driven prints, photographs, and video work have won her notice as one of four finalists for the Institute's pending Artist Prize. 

"I am consumed by the romantic, vulnerable, poetic and bittersweet, and the emotions they elicit when discovered residing clandestinely in the world. I incorporate them into my work by way of a colder process, employing a minimalist aesthetic, rigorous conceptual framework, and focus on analytical structure. My photographs neutralize the environments they picture; camouflaged by paint, billboards and people are made illegible and characterless. Through this neutrality, the images address the solitude of existence and mutability of identity. Depth of character in this work is effaced though my alteration of context, yet individuals portrayed in another work via their wish lists display depth and complexity. Culled from the Internet, these lists function as portraits of desire. Vulnerabilities and hopes emerge, hidden within seemingly mundane lists. Similarly gathered from the Internet, a survey of eBay chairs - on lawns and driveways - elicits feelings of displacement, loss and loneliness.

I am wary to admit my attraction to emotion, especially in relation to love, hope and loneliness. It seems unfashionable for a practical person in what is often a cynical world. Intent on these topics nonetheless, I attempt to subvert and therefore disguise emotion's vehicles by presenting mere examinations - of systems, color, language and objects."