McClain Gallery is proud to present Bruna Massadas: The Edge of the World, our first solo exhibition of the Brazilian-born, Montana-based artist’s work. The Edge of the World features acrylic and oil stick paintings on canvas alongside small works on paper stemming from her Canal series. The works are inspired by Massadas’ birthing and postpartum experiences, and the word itself relates both to the body and land feature. As is characteristic of the artist’s output, saturated color permeates the exhibition. The hues harmonize with ripples and arcs rendered in acrylic paint as well as staticky, textured oil stick application. Each composition revolves around a sole sun perched at the top of each work’s world, its reflection meanders or drips down the canvas as though carving a path: the canal takes center stage.
BRUNA MASSADAS' (b. 1985, Brazil) paintings depict a new world in silence, with solitary birds, rivers and mountains in meditative calm. Now living in Montana, Bruna Massadas draws from the extreme landscapes of both regions to create her current body of work. 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.
From 2018–2021 Massadas 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 Iadevaia (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).