Bio

Shelby Scattergood (b. 1994) is an American portrait artist specializing in colored pencil. She received a BFA in Drawing and Printmaking from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Shelby is an internationally recognized artist having exhibited in institutions such as WMOCA, 21c Durham, Nomas* Projects in Scotland, the A.D. Gallery at UNC Pembroke, and VAE Raleigh.

Shelby currently works and resides in Hendersonville, NC with her husband Aaron Davis.

Statement

My practice explores the shifting nature of identity and personal reality. Through work that moves between abstraction and photorealism I create a visual tension that reflects both a longing and a limitation: the desire to see the events of my life yet to unfold, and to remember those forgotten. Drawing on research in both time theory and cognitive neuroscience I examine how identity is shaped by our limited perception of time and reality. Within these boundaries the self becomes something fluid, continuously formed and reformed through partial memory and imagined futures. My work ultimately asks, is it possible to truly know ourselves within the limitations of being human? And if we accept that as an impossibility, can we find comfort in the transient nature of our being?