Sherin Guirguis was born in Luxor, Egypt in 1974 and now lives in Los Angeles, CA. Through her work, she audits the symphony of difference and complexity heard in the politics of place. Her practice is a means to heighten her understanding of conflict and contested histories. She engages both formal and social concerns by juxtaposing the reductive Western language of minimalist aesthetics with that of Eastern ornamentation. The work attempts to problematize the history of decoration and ornamentation and its relationship with social structures, cultural identity and Women’s agency.

She received her BA from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997 and her MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2001. She has had solo exhibitions at The Third Line Gallery, Dubai; the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, AZ; and LAXART, Los Angeles, CA. Her work is currently featured in the inaugural exhibition of the Desert X Biennial and LA Exuberance at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Group shows include, We Must Risk Delight: Twenty Artists from Los Angeles, an official collateral exhibition of the Venice Biennale 2015; The Ease of Fiction, at CAAM Los Angeles and CAM Raleigh, NC; Islamic Art Now: part 2, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Avant Garde Collection and the 2010 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, CA; and Color Dialogues at the Sharjah Art Museum, UAE.

She has been awarded several prestigious grants and fellowships including, the 2014-2015 City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship, the 2012 California Community Foundation Visual Artist Fellowship, and the Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation. Reviews and features have examined her work in ArtForum, New York Times, The Gaurdian, Brownbook, Canvas, Flash Art, Los Angeles Times and Artweek, among others.

In 2018 she will be presenting a solo project at the California Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles.

In her Artist Lab and exhibition My Place is the Placeless, she will create an environment for investigations into the intersections of art and activism through explorations of materials made from the earth’s elements, including pigment, paper, soil and water. Guirguis seeks to address problems of displacement, environmental destruction, and cultural and historical memory loss in her work, as well as through conversations with local artists engaged in political activism, and workshops with local Santa Monica youth and adult participants. To learn more about events and exhibition reception dates and to RSVP, please visit here.

Art Making Workshop
April 29, 2017
1-4 PM (in conjunction with Pico Block Party)
Family friendly – kids welcome!

Exhibition Reception
May 13, 2017
5-8 PM