Masha Sha

Masha Sha was born in Chukotka, RU in 1982. She graduated from Pro Arte Institute, St. Petersburg, RU (2005), and received an MFA from the University at Buffalo, NY (2010). Masha then completed The L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation in Rochester, NY (2011). She primarily works in the mediums of drawing and video. Masha received the International Award of Recognition from STRABAG in Vienna, Austria (2014) as well as the Young Artist Prize for “Innovation” in Moscow, Russia (2006). She is currently a resident artist at The R.A.i.R Foundation in Roswell, New Mexico.

Artist statement:

I am always arranging and rearranging words and letters in my head. In my drawing practice I exaggerate the graphic and poetic nature of the words. The complexities and excitement involved in excavating meanings from words and phrases is a major part of my thinking. As a Russian artist living and working in the United States, I’m engaging a relationship with language that is always in a state of discovery. I started out as a video artist in Russia, but my interest has completely shifted to drawing. Drawing is an untouched and liberating process for me as I have never studied it. Drawing has immediacy and honesty. I find the process extremely energizing and also meditative.