Shaina McCoy (b. 1993, Minneapolis, MN) is an artist living and working in Los Angeles, California. Working with richly hued oil paints, McCoy creates selectively-colored canvases that depict imagery drawn from photographs of family members and other intimates. Finding a formal balance between artists such as Kara Walker and David Hockney, McCoy builds faceless figures from thick, tactile layers of glossy paint; the resulting images are vivid and vibrant anonymous portraits, loaded with sentiment and mystery. McCoy’s work captures the ambiguous and familiar essence of memory, radiating both history and wonder.
McCoy graduated from Minneapolis Community and Technical College with an AA in Fine Art in 2017, having previously attended the famed Perpich Art Academy in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Solo exhibitions include Father Father, François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2020) and A Family Affair, Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA (2019). Selected group exhibitions include Riders of the Red Horse, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA (2020); Body in Motion Traveling Bodies, Stems, Brussels, Belgium (2020); The Flat Files, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA (2019); 33 Works By 3 Artists, Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA (2018); Now More Than Always (Gimme Gimme the Money Please Please I Want the Money Please), Gildar Gallery, Denver, CO (2017); OverNorth Part 2, Venture North, Minneapolis, MN (2015); and Rapper’s Delight, City Wide Artists Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (2015).