Zach Feuer Gallery is pleased to present Desaparecido, an exhibition of new work by Dasha Shishkin.

Shishkin eschews any definitive narrative in her work in favor of presenting questions with “maybe” for an answer. The plaintive, calm faces of the figures who populate her compositions belie the intense activities in which they are engaged. Each individual executes a particular task that informs a larger activity, but individual identities or actions disappear, intentionally or mistakenly, in a sea of activity or service.

Shishkin’s complex compositions are executed using her characteristic economy of line, coupled with her use of bright blocks of color and elaborate patterning. Often using found materials, the artist employs the existing imperfections, such as the folds or creases in a canvas, to give shape to her work. Approximately 17 drawings in Desparecido are on mylar, a semi transparent surface, which Shishkin takes advantage of by applying several media including acrylic, ink and conte to the front as well as the reverse of the surface. Although colors, often in opposition to one another, at first dominate her compositions, line ultimately informs the space and composition of her work.

Dasha Shishkin was born in 1977 in Moscow and received her master’s degree from Columbia University. Her work was featured in Embrace at the Denver Museum of Art; Greater New York at P.S. 1, New York; and Gegenwärtig: Geschichtenerzähler at the Kunsthalle Hamburg. She is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Dallas Museum of Art; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; and Hamburger Kunsthalle. Shishkin will have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland in 2012. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.