Devan Shimoyama


Devan Shimoyama is a contemporary painter who lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA. He is an Assistant Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. He received a BFA from The Pennsylvania State University in Drawing/Painting in 2011 and a MFA from Yale University School of Art in Painting/Printmaking in 2014.

Career

Devan Shimoyama's work focuses on race and sexuality. He often incorporates glitter and rhinestones into his paintings, which consist of large-scale portraits of himself, friends and acquaintances, and figures from his imagination. These characters are drawn from a wide range of sources, from men at barbershops to drag queens. The materials point to drag culture and challenge traditional notions of masculinity and representations of wealth.

Exhibitions

Shimoyama's paintings have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions. He has had solo presentations at De Buck Gallery, New York, NY ; Samuel Freeman Gallery ; Stems Gallery ; Lesley Heller Workspace, New York, NY ; Bunker Projects, Pittsburgh, PA ; and group presentations at Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL ; LeRoy Neiman Gallery, New York, NY ; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY ; Lehman College Gallery, Bronx, NY ; Upfor Gallery, Portland, OR ; The Fed Galleries at KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI ; BravinLee Programs, New York, NY ; Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, CO ; Alter Space, San Francisco, CA ; Northern Illinois University Art Museum, Dekalb, IL ; Realities in Contemporary Video Art, Screening, Fondation des Etats Unis, Paris ; BravinLee Programs, New York, NY ; and Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York, NY and the Andy Warhol Museum.