* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Shaina will be attending The New York Academy of Art this Fall to earn her MFA in painting. She graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2011 with a BFA in painting and currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. Her work is primarily figurative and her obsession with the human form makes sure she never strays far from her favorite subject. Her large oil paintings are glazed with many layers of sheer color, creating a luminous effect. In addition to oil, she works in chalk pastel and digital photography.
Shaina explains her work by saying, “I paint my subjects’ faces after they have been altered, layered, and printed digitally. I wield my palette as another means of pushing limits, experimenting with extreme and unfamiliar hues for the human form, creating something recognizable and yet entirely alien, like landscapes comprised of bodies or fluorescent faces fading in and out of existence.”