Artist Sharon Shapiro in her studio. Photo courtesy of the artist

"Representations of women can agitate for a cultural shift." 

This powerful statement captures the heart of artist Sharon Shapiro's artistic vision. 

Based in Virginia, Artwork Archive's Featured Artist Sharon Shapiro is a prolific painter who uses her work to explore the tensions and insatiable longing that often lurks beneath the surface. Working in diverse media and sizes, Sharon portrays opposing forces in her figurative-based work: fantastic and natural, utopian and dystopian subject matter. 

For three decades, she has focused on portraying female identity, drawing on her experiences growing up in the American South. Her art addresses the complexities of nostalgia, memory, and femininity. 

Driven by an interest in the tensions and aspirations that arise in adolescence and continue into adulthood, Sharon stages women to photograph, using these images as the foundation for her collaged paintings. This process allows her to delve into themes of intimacy and vulnerability, constructing narratives rich with autobiographical experience. "I celebrate the space between Arcadia and scrolling iPhones, between being self-conscious and totally unguarded," she explains. 

Inspired by personal events, shared myths, and pop culture, Sharon Shapiro creates a world where time blends together, offering a unique and thought-provoking perspective on contemporary female identity. 

Artwork Archive had the chance to chat with Sharon Shapiro about her creative process, why she focuses on the female identity, and how Artwork Archive helps her manage her art career. ​ 

You can see more of her work on Discovery and learn more about her art practice below:

 

Sharon Shapiro, The Boulevard is Not That Bad, 50 x 70 x 2 in, 2022

Can you walk us through your creative process? 

My painting process is layered: I begin with staged photographs of young women, which I frequently alter and recompose through collage. I then create paintings based on these reordered compositions.

I construct curiously discordant scenes that interfere with the viewer’s assumptions about the women I depict.

Superficial beauty serves as an invitation to look more closely, revealing cracks in the artifice, obscured narratives, and hidden meanings.

My favorite part is when the painting emerges from its inevitable unruly phase, with color harmonies or compositional elements coming together in unexpected ways. I know the piece is finished when it’s no longer tapping me on the shoulder. 

 

What inspired you to explore opposing forces such as utopian and dystopian, and fantastical and natural elements in your work? 

I’ve always painted figures, which stems from my lifelong interest in the conflict between the inner and outer lives of human experience—between a person’s placid exterior and their churning, riotous core.

For the past several years, I’ve focused on depicting young women in the liminal state between adolescence and adulthood. The aspirations and tensions during that transitional stage are intense, and remnants remain throughout our lives. I place these figures in semi-imaginary realms, often weaving together bucolic imagery with an urban vernacular to heighten the sense of a world off-kilter. 

Sharon Shapiro, Don't Be Scared, 18 x 24 x 1.5 in, 2022

What does portraying female identity mean to you, and how has your approach evolved over three decades? 

Heroines teeming with desire and intensity inspire me, and there are some similarities to the central figures of my West Virginia upbringing.

The women I paint are not mere subjects but embodiments of power, simultaneously fierce and profoundly feminine. They subvert the gaze by commanding the viewer's attention

I've always used photography as the basis for composing my paintings. Painting allows me to decouple these portraits from photography's association with documentation and truth to move the portraits into a dreamlike world.

As a medium, painting also slows down the image; the painting process becomes mimetic with its subject, suggesting a place outside the here and now.

One thing that has changed over the last seven years is that I work almost exclusively with models, collaborating with women I know to create source images that evoke their feminine agency. 

Sharon Shapiro, Cry Deeply, 32 x 46 x 2 in, 2023

What impact do you hope to have on those who view your artwork? 

What's always been most important to me is that my work causes an emotional response in the viewer.

Since I mostly paint women and girls, I want them to feel 'seen' and understood on some deep level, to feel less alone in a world that often feels isolating and/or overwhelming.

I also want my work to raise more questions than answers, sparking a dialogue and a shared understanding. 

Do you have any rituals or routines to get you in the creative headspace? Anything that you do in your studio before you start creating to enhance productivity, flow, and inspiration? 

I always lay out my palette first when working on a painting. I like to have an abundant amount of paint ready to go so that I don't have to mix the exact colors repeatedly, and it also gives me a sense of freedom.

I also listen to podcasts or audiobooks while I work.

At the end of a session, I take a photo of what I'm working on. I often notice what needs to be tweaked in a photo on my laptop more than I do when in front of the image. I'm not sure why– maybe because the screen inevitably flattens the image a bit. 

Inside Sharon Shapiro's studio. Photo courtesy of the artist

Was there a specific instance or time you realized you needed something like Artwork Archive to inventory your artwork and manage your art career? 

Yes, I was going through old slides (!) trying to locate a piece that I created in the late 90’s for an Instagram post and realized that if had all my slides scanned, I could upload them to Artwork Archive and have three decades worth of work in one place. I’m working backward and have already uploaded the last six years of work to Artwork Archive. 

 

How do you use Artwork Archive on a daily basis? 

I apply for a variety of residencies and exhibition opportunities, and I’m able to create Exhibition Records on Artwork Archive that help me see my choices and narrow them down to what makes the strongest submission.

I also use it to keep track of my deadlines, which helps me stay motivated to work on applications. 

 

 

What advice would you give an artist who’s just starting out in their professional career? 

Don’t ever stop experimenting—even if you’ve been showing or selling your work. 

It’s essential to keep experimenting and to fail miserably sometimes. Don’t get stuck in a box; remind yourself that your job is to follow your curiosities and resist being hemmed in.

Cultivate a sense of awe and wonder at what is possible, and let the work reveal itself.

Don’t compare yourself to another artist’s path. Instead, develop a network of fellow artists, and genuinely be happy for them when they have success—it just means there is more to go around.

Sharon Shapiro, Strange Bedfellows, 26 x 20 x 0 in, 2024

Sharon Spairo uses Artwork Archive to catalog decades of work, keep track of her submissions to art opportunities, and a whole lot more.

You can make an online portfolio, catalog your artwork, and generate reports like inventory reports, tear sheets, and invoices in seconds with Artwork Archive. Take a look at Artwork Archive's free trial and start growing your art business.