Biography
Shara Mays (b. Princeville, NC) lives and works in Oakland, California and Cartagena, Colombia. She received a BFA from Corcoran College of Art and Design in 2000, and an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 2020. In her work, Mays explores ways in which we navigate between cultural stereotype and singularity by engaging with the visual spaces between figuration and abstraction. As she mentions: “My research, although steeped with negativity, informs the outcome of my paintings, transforming a past rife with violence into a cathartic meditation on transcendence.”
Mays has exhibited her work at venues including James Cohan Gallery, New York (2024); Harper’s, Los Angeles (2024); Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York (2023); San Francisco Art Institute (2021); and de Young Museum, San Francisco (2020). Her work is held in the collections of the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, DC; Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas; and International African American Art Museum, Charleston. Most recently, her work has been featured in publications including Artnet, The Guardian, and Juxtapoz.
Exhibitions
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Runaway, Ronchini, London, UK
2025 torn up, Chandran Gallery, San Francisco, CA
losing sight of it, The Pit, Los Angeles, USA
2024 where we walked, how we remembered, Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York, USA
drenched by a summer downpour, softened by a spring rain, Harper’s East Hampton, New York, USA
2023 color sanctuary, Marrow Gallery, San Francisco, USA
overgrown, Mehari Sequar Gallery, Washington, USA
2022 everywhere, Chandran Gallery San Francisco, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Flourish: Gestural Abstractions in Bloom, Ronchini, London, UK
2024 NADA Miami, The Pit, Los Angeles, USA
Wild Range, The Pit, Los Angeles, USA
San Francisco Art Fair, Marrow Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Felix Art Fair, Harper’s, Los Angeles, USA
Arcadia and Elsewhere, James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA
2023 Dialogues: A Convergence of Color and Form, Hunter Dunbar Projects, New York, USA
Root Division Annual Auction, San Francisco, USA
The Deeper We Sunk in Dreams, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, USA
After Eden, Latchkey Gallery, New York, USA
2022 BloodChild, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Reflections, Hiram W. Johnson State Office Building, San Francisco, USA
Small Works, Soft Times Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2021 The Future Is, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, USA
Root Division Annual Auction, San Francisco, USA
A Joy Unexpected, Root Division, San Francisco, USA
Chromocartography, Round Weather Art Gallery, Oakland, USA
MFA Revisited, Root Division, San Francisco, USA
