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Born in America to Israeli parents, Aithan Shapira has always been exposed to multiple perspectives—both inherited and lived—the presence of which permeates his paintings, prints, and concrete constructions.His subject matter spans more than a decade across three continents tackling conflicting fields of view, whether simultaneously addressing two sides of a wall or matters of migration or of false hope.

His works are characterized by their layers of contradictions, some more overt in material and form such as concrete and soap life preservers, and others more subtle as inverting depths of field or his attention to light as a solid often blocking other objects from view and an expansive palette of yellows ranging from desert to golden sun, honey, urine and bile that he makes symbolically from scratch mixing pigments from earth, ash, and limestone. Just as the tone in which something is said can alter its meaning, Aithan weaves shape and pattern into tightly composed poetic representations that ask us to consider the malleability in which the same object can take on vastly different meanings. Critic Cate McQuaid of the Boston Globe writes, "Every line, every shading seems deliberate and felicitous, as discerning about what beauty comprises." (2015). Prevalent themes in Aithan’s work: migration, place-making, way-finding.

"My work is not about me; it is a mirror of us, and it does not show what we are but reflects what we can become.” -Shapira

 In 2012, he gave a TEDx talk entitled We Are All Cubists, in which he explored multiple perspectives and the way we view both history and the present. Aithan currently lives with his wife and daughter in Boston, MA, where he has a studio. He teaches at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and gives an intensive drawing course at MIT.


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Bibliography | Press

2016
Frost, Emily. DNAinfo, NY,January 2016
2015
McQuaid, Cate. Boston Globe, May 2015
Creighton, Catherine. Artscope, May 2015 
Voeller, Megan. Hope Floats. Creative Loafing, June 2015
Rosen, Aaron. Art & Religion in the 21st Century  Thames & Hudson 2015
2013
The Wall Has Two Sides, Jerusalem Post, December 2013
Presutti, Kelly. Review: Art for Rollins. October 2013
Press Release: Shapira ‘Light, and Other Shapes’ Soprafina Gallery, 2013
2011
Frenn, Chawky100 Boston Painters


EDUCATION

Sydney College of the Arts
—Ph.D. Visual Arts
Royal College of Art
—M.A. Printmaking
Boston University
—M.F.A. Painting


SOLO

2016
Know From Where You Came And Where You Are Going
- JCC Manhattan, NY
2015
Architecture, Nature, and Light
- Adelson Galleries, Boston
Hope
Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg
2013
Where Patterns Align
- Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca, Mexico
Light, and Other Shapes
Soprafina Gallery, Boston
2012
Marist Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie
Migration
- Froelick Gallery, Portland
2010
A Melody at Night With You
- Sherman Gallery, Boston
New Paintings and Prints
- Kathleen Bernhardt Gallery, Sarasota 


GROUP

2015
Adelson Galleries
- Miami Project
Sanctuary
Orlando Museum of Art
Here, Without
- Sackler Museum, Harvard
2012
Froelick Gallery
- Aqua Fair
Summer Exhibition
- Royal Academy of Arts
Unknown Territory
- TED Talks, Portland
Contemplating Nature
- Seattle Art Museum Gallery
Royal College of Art Alumni
- University of Kent
Urban Dialogues 3FF
- RED Gallery, London
2011
10: Selected Prints
Royal Academy of Arts
Off the Wall
Danforth Museum of Art
2010
Reunited
- Denise Bibro Gallery, NY


COLLECTIONS

Royal Academy of Art, London
Royal College of Art, London
The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College
The Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, New York
Ben Uri Gallery, London
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Adelson Private Collection
Fidelity Collection

Alfond Private Collection


RESIDENCIES | AWARDS

Residencies
2015 Summit Powder Mountain, Utah
2013 Oaxaca, Mexico
2008 Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem
2006 Milton Avery’s Studio, Gloucester, MA

Awards
2008
-Man Group Drawing Prize
-Daler-Rowney Prize for Drawing
-Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Award
2007-9
-Endeavor International Research Scholarship, Australia
2006
-Ann Friedman Prize in Painting
-Blanche E. Colman Award for Painting

In the Artist's Studio 2014

Interview with CBS’s Mark McEwen

TEDx | We are all Cubists 2012

Aithan Shapira has extracted skillsets and toolkits from art-making practices to design strategic methods for effectively navigating uncertainty in environments where in complex shifting elements are considered at the same time. Aithan looks at Cubism through the unique lens of the maker’s studio today.

Walls Have Two Sides 2013

Interview series for Urban Dialogues, RED Gallery, London