Dasha Shishkin

Dasha Shishkin’s drawings explore identity and psychological tension through densely layered compositions that shift between figuration and abstraction. Working with watercolour, ink, graphite and collage, she constructs fragmented scenes in which bodies, interiors and decorative forms merge and dissipate within unstable, theatrical spaces. Having spent her early childhood in Russia before immigrating to the United States in the late 1980s, Shishkin’s practice remains constantly informed by experiences of displacement and fractured selfhood. Combining elements of Surrealism, caricature and graphic illustration, her works fluctuate between humour, sensuality and unease, often suggesting moments of performance and emotional exposure. Fluid linework combined with overlapping imagery and compressed spatial arrangements lend the drawings a restless immediacy, allowing decorative excess and psychological instability to coexist simultaneously.

Shishkin was born in Moscow, Russia in 1977. She received a BFA from The New School for Social Research, New York, in 2001, followed by an MFA from Columbia University, New York, in 2006. Shishkin has exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at institutions including Zach Feuer Gallery, New York (2009, 2011); Gio Marconi, Milan (2010, 2013, 2018); the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (2012); the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara (2013); and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder (2017). Her work has also been included in significant group exhibitions at MoMA PS1, New York (2005); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2006); the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2007); and the Saatchi Gallery, London (2012). Shishkin’s work is held in major public collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; and the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. Shishkin currently lives and works in New York.