Mary Sherman’s artistic practice explores the intersection of technology, fine arts, scientific inquiry and aesthetic research. Her work takes the form of multi-modal installations, performances and writings, including engaging artists around the world in large-scale international projects, produced under the guise of TransCultural Exchange.

Never overtly political, Mary Sherman’s work nonetheless speaks to our age, tapping into the timeless, human condition. A lone form bravely confronts the darkness; parts hidden are slowly revealed; paths parallel but can’t meet. The tools of today’s information craze are used, but it is the kinetic pieces’ hand-made touch that charms. And, all this is done with that medium that has beguiled us for centuries: painting. But, paintings like you’ve never seen before. Modular in nature and formal in configuration, Sherman takes them off the wall and lets them run loose into the realm of time and space to “… ultimately coalesce into a lush, sensual experience.” (Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe). Aided by technology and scientific data, her canvases move across floors like performers in a mechanical ballet. Painting’s latent touch is made audible; and brushstrokes are tied to digital circuitry. The eye is no longer privileged; it is complemented by sound and haptic mimicry. The work disarms; and, with that, a sense of wonder prevails.

Currently Mary is at work on her first book A Legacy of Deceit. It is part memoir, part Cold War investigative journalism, prompted by the many unexplained encounters she had with her late father, not the least of which was his once showing up at an airport, a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist.

Recent Awards:
2023 Massachusetts Cultural Council for the Cultural Sector Recovery Grant for Individual Artists.
2023 Fulbright Specialist Grantee, Taiwan

Watch:
Catalyst Conversation: Mary Sherman, Florian Grond and Hiroshi Ishii
Catalyst Conversation: Bits, Sights and Sound |MIT, Mary Sherman, Florian Grond and Hiroshi Ishii
What if You Could Hear a Painting

Read:
Mary Sherman, What if You Could Hear a Painting, Leonardo Electronic Almanac/MIT Press

Featured in:
Letter to Lucy, A Manifesto of Creative Redemption–In the Age of Trump, Fascism and Lies by Frank Schaffer, Apple Books, p. 277- 290.