top of page

About

Howdy, I'm Molly Jo

Molly Jo Shea is an interdisciplinary artist focusing mostly on performance, object making and creating interactive experiences. Growing up as a daughter of an opera singer and a special effects artist her work is a combination of decadence and horror dragged through a hall of mirrors. Interested in manipulating systems, Shea creates environments and characters that pervert the familiar and provide new experiences for community engagement. She has combined Pick-up artists and Trappers, defrosted Feminist cavewomen and hosted seminars on humiliation from a stockade in order to explore how we observe things like gender and power in a shifting world. 

  • Instagram

CV

Education

California Institute of the Arts

2019 - MFA with specialization in Art & Integrated Media 
School of the Art Institute of Chicago 
2011 - BFA with specialization in New Media Performance 

Solo + Two Person Shows 

2023

  • Bass Ghost Shop, Yes We Cannibal, Baton Rouge, LA

2020

Hot Potato, Jan Weenix, Los Angeles, CA 

2019

  • Alraune, Horse and Pony, Berlin, Germany

  • Seed Mother, CalArts MFA Thesis Exhibition       

  • I’ll Stop the World and Melt With You, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles 

2018

  • Vanitas by Veritas, Bozo Mag, Los Angeles, CA

  •  I’ll Stop the World and Melt with You, CalArts MFA Mid-Residency

2017

  • I Can’t Even: A Pet Peeve Funeral, Basement Projects, Santa Ana, CA

2016  

  • Tales of Hoffman Performance :Part I-Olympia, Im Ersten, Vienna

  • Tales of Hoffman Performance: Part II- Sandman, Im Ersten, Vienna

  • SPF 666, SLOW Gallery, Chicago, IL

2015   

  • Hearst So Good, part of the Arroyo Seco Garden Golf Classic, Los Angeles, CA

  •  You Can’t Cut Your Losses: Castrati Cocktail Hour, PAM, Los Angeles CA

2013

  • Please Release Me, WEEKEND, Los Angeles, CA

2012

  • It’s My Party, I Can Die If I Want To, Dutch Door, Los Angeles, CA

2011

  • NO FAIR part of Tender Exchange at NEXT Art Fair, Chicago, IL

Grants

  • Merit Scholarship School of the Art Institute of Chicago

  • Lillian Disney Scholarship at CalArts

  • Travel Scholarship Microgrant at CalArts

  • Felix Gonzales-Torres Travel Scholarship

  • REEF Residency

Clickbait

Group Shows 

2023

  • Dirt Cheap, Studio Waveland , Waveland, MS
     

2022

  • Radical Dawn, Luna Anais Gallery , Los Angeles, CA
     

2021

  • Educational Collaborative Workshop featuring Patrick Ballard, Todd Madigan Gallery, CSUB campus in Central Valley, CA
     

2019

  • Future Ghost, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA

  •  Haunts, JOAN, Los Angeles, CA
     

2018

  • Feel Nothing, Be Bored, Club pro, Los Angeles, CA

  • Superflexible, CalArts, Valencia, CA

  • User Error, MOCA Tucson, AZ

  • Strap Your Hands Across My Engine, Tin Flats, Los Angeles, CA

  • MultiCult, Lyric Hyperion, Los Angeles, CA     
         

2017

  • Town Hall, LTD, Los Angeles, CA

  • Self- Reliance,  Now Space LA, Los Angeles, CA

  • Blessed Be: A Night of Occult Performance, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA

  •  Pity Party, Art and Exhibition Hall UIC, Chicago, IL
     

2016

  • Felt Book Exhibition + ifNf Prod Shop, Los Angeles, CA

  • Staking Claim, 50 Bucks Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

  • Karaoke Nights, Demon’s Mouth, Norway

  • LadyGirlyFemale, Hammock Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

  • Unconditional Love, Gal Palace, Los Angeles, CA
     

2014

  • Psychiana Magazine Release Party, LACA, Los Angeles, CA

  • Femmes on the Edge, Pehrspace, Los Angeles, CA
     

2013

  • Tete-a-Tete, RAID Projects, Los Angeles, CA

  • How Many Feminists Does it Take to Change A Lightbulb, Antenna Gallery, Chicago, IL

  •  Leg Room,  Projector Projects, Los Angeles, CA
     

2012

  • Subterraneans, Torrance Art Museum. Los Angeles, CA

2011

  • Simulationist New Media Festival, Betty Rhymer Gallery, Chicago, IL

2010  

  • Mischief Night, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL

  • Witch Night, Montague Arms, London, England

bottom of page