Bruna Massadas' (b. 1985, Brazil) paintings depict a new world in silence, with solitary birds and mountains in meditative calm. Merging the tropical vistas of her native Rio de Janeiro with the volcanic formations of her neighboring Yellowstone Park, her work envisions a strange planet: a world of abundant space, possibility, and color, but also a world of scarcity. Life, on this planet, exists in solitude. Suns and moons rise over dormant peaks. A bird, draped in stunning feathers, has no witness other than itself. The future of this world in repose seems an eternity away from catastrophe perhaps because the catastrophe has already happened, and now is the time for regrowth. Now living in Montana, Bruna Massadas draws from the extreme landscapes of both regions to create her current body of work. From 2018–2021 she exhibited with Binder of Women, and from 2016–2018 she was a member of CTRL+SHFT collective. Recently her work has been exhibited at The Pit (Los Angeles), Bozomag (Los Angeles), My Pet Ram (New York), and Gallery 16 (San Francisco). She also exhibited in two-person shows with Raymie ladevaia (2022, Bozomag) and Daniel Gibson (2017, Some.Time.Salon). Massadas earned her BFA at California State University, Fullerton (2009) and MFA at California College of the Arts (2012). Her first solo show with McClain Gallery is planned for May 2025.
