Shaina McCoy

Shaina McCoy (b. 1993) is a Minneapolis, MN–based artist whose deeply textured paintings regularly depict Black children, families, and social scenes. McCoy began painting during high school at the Perpich Center for Arts in Education in Golden Valley, MN.

McCoy graduated from Minneapolis Community and Technical College with an AA in Fine Art in 2017, having previously attended the famed Perpich Art Academy in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Her work has since been included in solo and group exhibitions across the globe. Solo exhibitions include Father,- Father; Francois Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA (2020), A Family Affair; Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA (2019). Selected group exhibitions include Shape of an Image (2021), WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong; Riders of the Red Horse; The Pit, Los Angeles, CA (2020); Body in Motion Traveling Bodies, Stems, Brussels, Belgium (2020); The Flat Files; The Pit, Los Angeles, CA (2019); 33 Works By 3 Artists, Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA (2018); and, Now More Than Always (Gimme Gimme the Money Please Please I Want the Money Please), Gildar Gallery, Denver, CO (2017).

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Throughout her work, McCoy transforms collected childhood photographs into large-scale paintings that feature her signature thick, shiny brush strokes and largely nondescript faces. McCoy’s technique makes her figures simultaneously familiar and anonymous— she provides viewers with snippets of details reminiscent of warmth, safety, and tenderness. McCoy's deeply textured paintings regularly depict Black children, families, and social scenes. McCoy began painting during high school at the Perpich Center for Arts in Education in Golden Valley, MN. Her work has since been included in multiple group exhibitions. Throughout her work, McCoy transforms collected childhood photographs into large-scale paintings that feature her signature thick, shiny brush strokes and largely nondescript faces. McCoy’s technique makes her figures simultaneously familiar and anonymous— she provides viewers with snippets of details reminiscent of warmth, safety, and tenderness.