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Seeking gallery representation.

Bio

 

Serena Viola Corson (b. 1996) is an American artist, currently working and studying as an MFA candidate and graduate assistant at LSU. 

CV

Grants/Awards

 

2022 Juror's Award, No Way Out But Through, Berkley Art Center 

2022 Juror's Award, Melting, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery 

2019 FSU Art Department Travel Grant 

2019 IDEA Grant Recipient 

2019 Susan & Mark Messersmith Art Scholar Award 

2019 SIX Research and Creative Grant 

2019 Peoples’ Choice Award at Remote Dialogue Exhibition, UWG 

 

Solo + Two Person Shows

 

2022  Flora and Font, The Mill, San Francisco, California 

2021  The Appalachia of Florida: Welcome to Bithlo by the Water, The Plant, Tallahassee FL

2019  Between, Anderson Brickler Gallery, Tallahassee FL 

Group Exhibitions

2024 Oddkin, Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco CA 

2023 A Ripple in the Garden, Soft Times Gallery, San Francisco CA

2023 Bay Area Contemporary Art Show, The Dojo, San Francisco CA

2022 Crimson, Soft Times Gallery, San Francisco CA

2022 Pamplemousse, Pamplemousse Gallery, Richmond VA

2022 No Way Out But Through, Berkley Art Center, Berkley CA 

2022 Melting, SFWA Gallery, San Francisco CA June 

2022 Tides of Change, Drawing Room SF, San Francisco CA 

2021 Florida Show, Moisturizer Gallery, Gainesville FL 

2021 What Does Community Look Like To You?, Brush Art Gallery, Lowell MA

2020 See Your Neighbor (virtual), 621 Gallery, Tallahassee FL 

2020 Artist Relief Exhibition (virtual) Kole Trent Gallery, Cocoa Beach FL 
2019 Remote Dialogue, The University of West Georgia, Carrollton GA
2019 From Creation to Creator: E.W.G.’s Second Annual Art Show, Tallahassee FL 
2018 Girls Who Draw Girls, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee FL
2018 Subject vs. Object, The Plant, Tallahassee FL 
2017 Faces, Grassroots Coffee Shop & Gallery, Thomasville GA 

2017 WTF 2016?!, Phyllis Strauss Gallery, Tallahassee FL 

Publications/Press

 

Harvard Alumna, Kristen Ghodsee, with her new Serena Viola Corson painting

https://scholar.harvard.edu/kristenghodsee/blog/amazing-painting-serena-viola-corson

Mystic Moon Mamas and Matisse: What inspires artist Serena Viola Corson

https://48hills.org/2022/08/mystic-moon-mamas-and-matisse-what-inspires-artist-serena-viola-corson/

Finding Your Niche with Serena Corson, https://goodfit.us/blogs/goodfit-artists/finding-your-niche-with-serena-corson

No Way Out But Through, Curator's Essay,

https://www.berkeleyartcenter.org/no-way-out-but-through

Contemporary Art as Liberation: Serena V.C.K. and the Phyllis Straus Art Gallery, https://www.hercampus.com/school/fsu/contemporary-art-liberation-serena-vck-and-phyllis-straus-art-gallery? fbclid=IwAR1C95Dh927XQtehwc-8Gmd7oHW7S9eKU6uuDdad1KOASDe R4FsyWvSihEc

Rethinking Feminism at The Plant, https://www.fsunews.com/story/news/2019/02/03/rethinking-feminism-plant/2758766002/

OPEN 3, Cum Clean performance, https://www.fsunews.com/story/life/2018/04/01/open-3-combines-written-word-visual-art-intimate-performances/476803002/

Artist Statement 

In these challenging times of loneliness and isolation, I paint the moments of collective joy that nourish my soul and make life worth living. All of my work is about getting in touch with each other, land and body, which are inseparable. I’m drawn to Donna Haraway’s definition of ‘oddkin’ which refers to having solidarity across species and forming alternative and queered family dynamics. My “Oddkin” series depicts mystical, intimate gatherings of humans with local flora and fauna. Pulling from life experience, I paint myself and friends leisurely laying around in the sun, enjoying time off work. These works are in conversation with the leisurely depictions by Cezanne, Seurat and Pissarro. I'm continuing the tradition of figurative painting, but bringing a fresh and bold feminist twist to the portrayal of the female nude—one that challenges and subverts the male gaze. Sustained hope for ultimate liberation informs my art practice in every way.

 

Being raised in poverty by a struggling single mother taught me from an early age the importance of finding your chosen family, building community and practicing mutual aid. It also showed me the flaws of the nuclear family structure. I regularly host intimate gatherings that celebrate platonic love and cultivate these bonds. I think of these events as both social practice art, ritual, and prefigurative politics. At these events, such as the annual Manifestations of Luv, we practice vulnerability, loving-kindness, feminist consciousness-raising, and being in sacred circle. The Witches Cove by Jan Mandijn from the 16th century and the more recent Dance by Matisse are compelling evidence of how important the sacred circle has been throughout history. I use photographic documentation from these happenings as reference for paintings. ​

"Magic is the miraculous and the mundane," - David Kubrin, Marxism and Witchcraft 

 

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