Shana Moulton is a New York based media artist who explores contemporary anxieties through her filmic alter ego, Cynthia. Combining an unsettling, wry humor with a low-tech, Pop sensibility, Cynthia's interactions with the everyday world are both mundane and surreal, in a domestic sphere just slightly askew. As her protagonist navigates the enigmatic and possibly magical properties of her home decor, Moulton initiates relationships with objects and consumer products that are at once banal and uncanny.

Background and education

Born in

Oakhurst, California Oakhurst (formerly Fresno Flats) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Madera County, California, Madera County, California, United States, south of the entrance to Yosemite National Park, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. At the 2020 censu ...

, Shana Moulton attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and continued to receive a MFA from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

. She has also studied at the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 t ...

and

De Ateliers De Ateliers (formerly Ateliers '63) is an independent art school in located in Amsterdam. It was founded in Haarlem in 1963, among others by Ger Lataster, Mari Andriessen, Nic Jonk, Theo Mulder and Wessel Couzijn. This "group of established arti ...

Amsterdam, Netherlands Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban are ...

. Moulton has been an artist in resident at

Harvestworks Harvestworks is a not-for-profit arts organization located in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by artists supporting the creation and presentation of art works achieved through the use of new technologies. The Harvestworks TEAM Lab (Technology ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(2008), and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (2011). She has also received fellowships and grants from the

Experimental Television Center The Experimental Television Center (ETC) (1969–2011) was a nonprofit electronic and media art center located in upstate New York. History The Experimental Television Center (ETC) was founded in 1971 by Ralph Hocking. The center was the result ...

(2009), the

Foundation for Contemporary Arts The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...

(2009), and

(2010). She currently works in Brooklyn, New York.

Works

''Whispering Pines''

The 10-part video series, ''Whispering Pines'' follows the protagonist's search for perfect health and peace through consumer objects. Cynthia, Moulton's intimately autobiographical, surreal, video alter-ego, interacts with appropriated new-age marginalia, prescription drugs, and beauty products in scenes that address the difficulties of self-discovery and fulfillment in a modern, consumerism-driven society. Moulton explains that she is not required to 'get into character' for Cynthia; Cynthia is always there. Moulton says of her alter-ego, "It's me in the bathroom; it's me worried about aging; it's me looking at a beauty magazine... We share a brain. I don't even think of her as a character. It's just me."Beck, Graham Frieze October 2012
/ref> Through Moulton's narrative of self-discovery, Cynthia gains relief from the social pressures of her domestic products by using them in non-prescribed ways.

Exhibitions

Solo

*Smack Mellon, ''Brooklyn, NY'' (upcoming) *Journeys Out of the Body
Museum of Fine Art
''St. Petersburg, Florida'' (June 18 – October 9, 2016) *Hybrid Naples, Fondazione Morra Greco ''Naples, Italy'' (2013) *A Unique Boutique, Galerie Crèvecœur ''Paris, France'' (2013) *Prevention, Gimpel Fils Gallery, ''London, England'' (2012) *Siła Woli, Galeria Arsenał, ''Białystok, Poland'' (2012) *Restless Leg Saga, Galerie Gregor Staiger at Liste, ''Basel, Switzerland'' (2012) *The line where your appearance flips over into reality, Agape Enterprise, ''Brooklyn, NY'' (2012) *Shana Moulton, Allcott Gallery,

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

, ''Chapel Hill, NC'' (2012) *Decorations of the Mind II, Galerie Gregor Staiger, ''Zurich, Switzerland'' (2011) *Operaprima: Shana Moulton, white.fish.tank, Ancona, Italy (2011) *The Castle of Secrets, Galerie Fons Welters, ''Amsterdam, The Netherlands'' (2010) *Puzzle Saga, Gimpel Fils Gallery, ''London, England'' (2010) *Sector Focus, Pianissimo at Art Forum Berlin, ''Berlin, Germany'' (2010) *Whispering Pines 6, 7, 8, The Box at The Wexner Center for the Arts, ''Cleveland, OH'' (2010) *Whispering Pines 4, David Castillo Gallery, ''Miami, FL'' (2010) *The Undiscovered Antique, New Commission 09,

Art in General Art in General was a non-profit contemporary art exhibition space known for its vibrant and ground-breaking projects as a formidable and longstanding New York City alternative space, focused on giving meaningful resources and opportunities to ar ...

, ''New York, NY'' (catalog) *Whispering Pines by Shana Moulton, Broadcast Gallery, ''Dublin, Ireland'' (2009) *Subjective Projections, Bielefelder Kunstverein, ''Bielefeld, Germany'' (2009) *4 x 4, The Bluecoat, ''Liverpool, England'' (2009) *Repetitive Stress Injuries, Pianissimo, ''Milan, Italy'' (2008) *Whispering Pines, Contemporary Museum of Art, ''Uppsala, Sweden'' (2008) *Sand Saga, Broadway 1602, ''New York, NY'' (2008) *Whispering Pines, Gimpel Fils Gallery, "London, England" (2007) *Whispering Pines, Project Room,

Bellwether Gallery Bellwether Gallery was a New York City art gallery based in Chelsea. Director and owner Becky Smith was recognized as an important promoter of emerging artists since the gallery's 1999 opening in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.Genocchio, ...

, ''New York, NY'' (2007)

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moulton, Shana 1976 births Living people Feminist artists American video artists American women video artists 21st-century American artists 21st-century American women artists People from Madera County, California Artists from California University of California, Berkeley alumni Carnegie Mellon University alumni Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni