Rudy Shepherd

Bio/CV: Rudy Shepherd received a BS in Biology and Studio Art from Wake Forest University and an MFA in Sculpture from the School of Art Institute of Chicago. He has been in solo exhibitions at Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, CT, Latchkey Gallery, NY, Mixed Greens Gallery, NY, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, Regina Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA and group exhibitions at MoMA PS1, NY, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, Bronx Museum of Art, NY, Art in General, NY, Triple Candie, NY, Socrates Sculpture Park, NY, Cheekwood Museum of Art, TN, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, CT, Southeastern Center of Contemporary Art, NC, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL, Tart Gallery, San Francisco, CA and Analix Forever Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland. He has been awarded Artist in Residence at PS1 National/International Studio Program, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY, Artist in Residence Visual + Harlem, Jacob Lawrence Institute for the Visual Arts, New York, N, Emerging Artist Fellowship, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY, Artist in Residence, Location One, NY, Process Space Artist in Residence Program Governors Island, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY.  He has done public art projects on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, Penn State University, PA at Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY, First Street Green Art Park, New York, NY and the Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA in 2015 and in Harlem in collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Artist Statement: Rudy Shepherd’s work explores the nature of evil through the mediums of painting, drawing and sculpture. This exploration involves investigations into the lives of criminals and victims of crime. He explores the complexity of these stories and the grey areas between innocence and guilt in a series of paintings and drawings of both the criminals and the victims, making no visual distinctions between the two. Going along with these portraits is a series of sculptures called the Black Rock Negative Energy Absorbers. They are a group of sculptures meant to remove negative energy from people allowing them to respond to life with the more positive aspects of their personality. 

Growing out of this exploration for solutions to the overwhelming forces of negative energy has come a series of ceramic sculptures called the Healing Device’s and a series of paintings of Holy Mountains, sacred spaces from all over the world that are central to the religions and cultures of the world­­ and a series of live performances featuring a character I have created called The Healer.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:    2021 Dreams Deferred, James k. Schmidt Gallery, Principia College, Elsah, IL, February 16 – April 30, 2021 Online 2020 Calling All Gods, Latchkey Gallery, New York, NY, September 10 – October 24, 2020 Somebody’s Child, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, July 19 – Nov. 29, 2020 2019 A Mediation on the Age of Struggle and Strife, HUB Robeson Gallery, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, Aug. 5 – Nov. 10, 2019 2018 Disaster Fatigue Revisited, Goodyear Gallery, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, October 10-27, 2018 Holy Mountain Project, Spring/Break Art Show (solo booth at Art Fair), New York, NY, Mach 6 – 12, 2018 Everything in the Universe is My Brother, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY January 13–February 26, 2018 2017 We are all Trayvon Martin, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA, February 23–March 25, 2017 2015 Solo booth with Mixed Greens Gallery, Volta Art Fair, New York, NY, March 5–8, 2015 2014 Disaster Fatigue, Mixed Greens Gallery, New York, NY, September 11 – October 10, 2014 Black Rock Negative Energy Absorber, First Street Green Park, New York, NY, May 27-Nov. 22, 2014 2012 Psychic Death, Mixed Greens Gallery, New York, NY, Mar. 29–Apr. 28, 2012 2011 Heroes and Villains, Start Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, Sept. 27–Oct. 16, 2011 2010 Falling Together, Mixed Greens Gallery, New York, NY, June 3–July 2010 2009 Rudy Shepherd: Portraits, Location One, New York, NY, July 8-31, 2009 2007 The Banality of Evil, Mixed Greens Gallery, New York, NY January 4-Feb. 2, 2007 2006 The Magetti, Mixed Greens Gallery, New York, NY July 20–Aug. 19, 2006 2005 Cloud Cave and the Creature Within, Mixed Greens Gallery New York, NY, Sept. 7–Oct. 8, 2005 Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Triple Candie Gallery, New York, NY Jan. 9–Feb. 13, 2005 2004 Black Bourgeoisie, Mixed Greens Gallery, New York, NY Oct. 15-Nov. 20, 2004 2003 Affirmative Actions, Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sept. 5–Oct. 12, 2003

Selected Group Exhibitions: 2021 This Sacred Thing, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Sept. 9 – Oct. 31, 2021 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Latchkey Gallery, online exhibition, May 5 – June 2021 Collector Series #2 (ir)Reverent Futures, online exhibition curated by Niama Safia, Dablin Gallery, Paris, France 2020 Untitled Art Fair, Latchkey Gallery, online virtual reality, July 31- Aug. 2. 100 Sculptures, No Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Jan. 18 – Feb. 16, 2020 100 Sculptures, 18 Rue Dussoubs, Paris, France, May 13-20, 2019 2019 Messengers: Artists as Witnesses, University of New Hampshire Museum of Art, January 24 – March 30, 2019 2018 Optimism: Endless Edition Biennial, EFA Project Space, New York, NY, Dec. 7–21, 2018 10 Years: 100 Sculptures, Anonymous Gallery, Mexico City, Sept. 21–Nov. 3, 2018 The Unlikely Whole, Artyard, Frenchtown, NJ, Sept. 15 – Dec. 30, 2018 Wake Me When It’s Over, Lorimoto Gallery, Ridgewood, Queens, NY, July 21 – Augsut 4, 2018 The Barn Show 2018, curated by Johannes Vogt Gallery, East Hampton, NY, July 7–29, 2018   Objects Like Us, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, May 20, 2018 – January 13, 2019   Order My Steps, Brooklyn Studio for Dance, Brooklyn, NY, May 9 –12, 2018 The Art of Protest, Arete´ Venue and Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, March 16 – April 29, 2018 New Year New Works 2018, The Film-Makers’ Cooperative, New York, NY, January 27-28, 2018 2017 Holiday Artist Book Show, Deanna Evans Projects, Brooklyn, NY, November 30 – December 17, 2017 Art in the Open: 50 Years of Public Art in New York, Museum of the City of New York, NY November 10 – May 2018 Personals, Skowhegan Office, May 4 – June 8, 2017 2016 The Window and the Breaking of the Window, Studio Museum in Harlem, November 17 – March 5, 2016 inHarlem, Studio Museum in Harlem, August 25, 2016 – July 25, 2017 Speak Out, Bronx Artspace, January 20 – February 20, 2016 Mindful Exploring Mental Health Through Art: The Invisible One, Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA, Jan. 22-Apr. 24, 2016 2015 Black: Color, Material, Concept, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY, Nov. 12, 2015-Mar. 6, 2016 Two Person show with Paul Chidester, Unsmoke Systems, Braddock, PA, Nov. 7-Dec. 7, 2015 Mixed Greens, Dowd Gallery, SUNY Cortland, NY, Oct. 26-Dec. 11, 2015 Black Rock Negative Energy Absorber in Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA June 5-14, 2015 Postcards from the Edge, Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, NY, Jan. 30–Feb. 1, 2015   RESPOND, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 17–Feb. 22, 2015 2014 When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, March 27–June 29, 2014, NSU Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Aug. 3 – Oct. 12, 2014, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Boston, MA, Feb. 4 – Mar. 20, 2015 Artwork on Skateboards, Debuck Gallery, New York, NY, Feb. 20 – Mar. 20, 2014 2013 The Almost Metal Collective, A+D Gallery, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL, January 10 – February 16, 2013 100 Little Deaths, Bravin Lee Programs, New York, NY, Jan. 1-31, 2013 2012 The Ergotist, Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA, Nov. 2 – Dec. 2, 2012 Noir Clair/Light Black, Galerie Vanessa Quang, Paris, France, Sept. 8-Nov. 3, 2012 MIE: A Portrait by 35 Artists, Freight+Volume Gallery, New York, NY, Jan. 21-Feb. 25, 2012 2011 Studio Practice: Recent Work by SoVA Faculty, Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State University, State College, PA, Sept. 6–Dec. 11, 2011 Festival of Ideas for the New City, New Museum, New York, NY, May 4-8, 2011 2010 Christmas Show, Analix Forever, Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 15-Jan. 6, 2010 Facutly Exhibition, Zoller Gallery, Penn State University, State College, PA, Fall 2010 Lush Life: Chapter 5, Y Gallery, New York, NY, July 8 – July 25, 2010 MtyMX All Ages Music and Art Festival in Monterrey, MX, March 20 – 22, 2010

Education: 1999–2001 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Masters of Fine Arts/ Sculpture 2000 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME. 1993–1998 Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC. Bachelor of Science/Biology and Studio Art 1997 School for Field Studies, Nairobi, Kenya. Center for Wildlife Management

Social: @rudyshepherd