The Work
My paintings emerge as visual passages into the landscape of the collective unconscious, where archetypal structures reveal hidden topographies of the mind. They are not depictions of external places, but psychological landscapes—territories where memory, myth, dream, and imagination converge.
Borrowing the language of landscape and architecture, each canvas becomes a psychic terrain: a place where thresholds, pathways, and impossible spaces invite contemplation of the unseen. Here, ancient patterns surface through contemporary form, dissolving the boundary between the visible world and the inner life of the psyche.
A vocabulary of recurring symbols—fractured lenses, geometric portals, labyrinths, keys, locks, and shifting horizons—guides the viewer through an unfolding process of self-discovery. Layers of luminous color and gestural brushwork accumulate like sedimented memories, revealing the continuous dialogue between conscious intention and unconscious impulse. Pigments collide, dissolve, and re-emerge, echoing the psyche's perpetual movement toward integration.
Rooted in Jungian psychology, the work resists the search for singular meanings. Instead, its symbols resonate across dreams, mythology, fairy tales, and the shared inheritance of human experience. Archetypes, the Shadow, and Active Imagination are not treated as illustrations of theory but as living forces that shape the visual language itself. The paintings seek emotional and psychological truth rather than objective reality, inviting reflection on the lifelong pursuit of wholeness.
The work does not end at the edge of the canvas. It remains incomplete until met by the viewer, whose perception becomes the final act of creation. Every symbol invites projection; every passage reflects an interior landscape unique to the observer. Meaning is not prescribed but discovered in the space between painting and witness, where the unconscious quietly recognizes itself. In that encounter, each work becomes less an object to be viewed than a living psychological mirror—an evolving dialogue between artist, image, and the unseen architecture of the human soul.
Biography
Sheko Kirby holds a Master of Fine Arts degree and is a founding member of The Institute for Wishful Thinking, an artists' collective dedicated to collaborative and experimental contemporary practice. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States and Europe, including Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Romania, Cyprus, and Serbia.
Kirby has received numerous honors, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, the Queens Council on the Arts Individual Artists Initiative Award, and the Rose Hoffman Memorial Award for Painting. In addition to her studio practice, she has served as an organizer for the Harlem Biennale, a panelist for the Queens Council on the Arts, and a fine arts instructor in New York.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Newsday, Afterimage, Saatchi Online, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation catalogue, among other publications.
Selected Exhibitions
NeMe Arts Centre, 345 Ellados Street, Limassol, Cyprus November- December 2014
Gallery 400, 400 South Peoria Street, Chicago, November- December 2013
Denise Bibro Fine Art, Juxtaposition, 529 W 20th Street, NYC, September 2013
Centar za Kultumu Dekontaminaciju, Kriza I Alternative, Belgrade, September October 2013
Pori Art Museum, Etelaranta 28100, Pori, Finland, February-May 2013
KunstVlaai, , Inexactly This, Amsterdam, Netherlands, November-December, 2012
Contemporary Art Center, Thessaloniki, Greece, Warehouse B1, June-October 2012
Astrian Cultural Forum, 11 E 52nd Street, NY, NY Jan.-April 2012
Momenta Art, 359 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY, March-April 2011
Gallery Aferro, 75 Market Street, Newark, NJ, March-April 2010
Curious Matter, 272 5th Street, Jersey City, NY, Sept-Oct. 2010
ICO Gallery, 606 West 26th Street, NY, NY, September 2009
Islip Art Museum, 50 Irish Lane, East Islip, New York, June-September 2009
Cue Art Foundation, 11 West 25th Street, New York, June-July 2009
Box Heart Gallery, 4523 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, January-March 2009
Periferic 8, Bienala de Contemporana, Romania, October 2008
Firehouse Gallery, Garden City, Jan-Feb 2007, Curator: A DiQuinzio, Whitney Museum of American Art
Soho20 Gallery, New York, NY, July-August 2005, Curator: Feresteh Daftari, Museum of Modern Art
Manifest Creative Research Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio, July-August 2005
Publications
This Week in New York, the Insiders’ Guide to the City, April 2012
Afterimage, Not Politics As Usual, Review by Sabina DeTurk, March 2012
Saatchi, Must-See Shows in New York, William Corwin, Feb. 21, 2012
Newsday, Island Landscapes, but not the Usual, August 2009, Steve Parks
Joan Mitchell Foundation, Catalogue Essay, May 2009, Amoreen Armetta
Absolute Arts Magazine, January 12, 2009, Indepth Arts News: 8th Annual Art Inter-National
The Queens Courier, November 6, 2008: Periferic 8: Exhibition in Romania, Jessica Lyons.
Armenian Radio Hour, June 22, 2008: Giving Form to Faith, Maral Temiz.
New York Times, August 21, 2005: Islip Show Sets Sail on a Metaphor, Helen Harrison.
City Beat, Cincinnati, Ohio, August 10, 2005: Art Review, Manifest Gallery, Julie Bernzott.
The Wave, Rockaway, NY, September 2, 2005: From the Artists Studio, Susan Hartenstein.