Bio

Polly Shindler is a painter living in Millerton, NY. She received an M.F.A. in Painting from Pratt Institute and B.A. from University of Massachusetts. Her solo exhibitions include Valley Musicand Windows at Deanna Evans Projects in NYC, Retreat at Ortega y Gasset Projects and Tennis Elbow at The Journal Gallery, NYC. She had her first solo fair presentation at NADA in Miami in 2024 with Deanna Evans Projects. Recent group shows include Hashimoto Contemporary in NYC and Headwaters Art Center in Stamford, NY, Ochi Gallery in Ketchum, ID and Chozick Family Gallery in NYC. Polly was awarded the Martha Boschen Porter Grant in 2023. Her painting Green Rocking Chair shown in Still Lives, a group show at Underdonk in Brooklyn, was featured in the New Yorker in 2018. Her solo Valley Music was reviewed in Two Coats of Paint in 2026. Shindler has attended residencies at Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center and Wassaic Project.

 

Statement

Whether I am painting an interior, a landscape or a dog I approach the canvas by breaking a composition down to its core elements. I enjoy playing with the contrast between fiction and nonfiction, turning the real into something fantastical by way of color or structure. While I explore painting through objects and scenery, I am also concentrating on what marks to make to achieve movement and stillness. Becoming increasingly more invested in how to use paint as a language and digging into its differences and qualities, I use the surface of my paintings as a map, and use luster and opacity to create tension and dynamics. This is helpful when depicting the weather, or ocean waves, as well as statue-like mountains.There are many new decisions to be made when I am thinking not only about color but then how to handle and depict the color. So I toggle between glossy and matte surfaces to depict texture and feel. I play with new mediums and use them in tandem with one another to create a new layer of meaning, something affected by light and the time of day.

Polly Shindler in Studio in Wassaic

CV

 

Polly Shindler 

pshindler@gmail.com / @pollyshindler / (203) 843-4639

Education:

2011 MFA ​Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

2001 BA ​History, University of Massachusetts    

Residencies  

2024 Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY

2023 DNA Residency, Provincetown, MA

2022 Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY

2013 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

Solo and Two Person Exhibitions:

2026 Valley Music, Deanna Evans Projects, NY

2025 Bedroom Community, Standard Space, Sharon, CT 

2024 Windows, Deanna Evans Projects, NY

2023 Platform in partnership with David Zwirner with Gisela Projects

Rafael Pérez Hernando Gallery, La Cripta, Madrid, SP

2022 Shifting Perspective, Deanna Evans Projects, NY with Tyler LaFreniere

Home Bird, Troutbeck, Amenia, NY curated by Will Hutnick

As Safe As Houses, Jennifer Terzian Gallery, Litchfield, CT

2020 Time Management, Freight + Volume, NYC 

Wheels, Preview, curated by Gisela Gueiros, online exhibition

2018 Kaller Fine Arts, Washington, D.C. with Donald Vaccino

2017 Tennis Elbow, Journal Gallery, NYC

Painting Everyday I Spoonbill & Sugartown Booksellers, Brooklyn, NY with Bella Foster

Retreat, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2026

On Paper, Hashimoto Contemporary, NYC

To Build a Home, Headwaters Roxbury Arts Group, Stamford, NY

2025

Second Nature, Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, ID

Off-Kilter, presented by Deanna Evans Projects, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, NY

Man’s Best Friend, Craven Contemporary, Kent, CT

Family/Tree, Chozick Family Art Gallery, NYC

2024

Weighted Blanket, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL

SP-Arte Fair, Gisela Projects, São Paulo, BRA

Feels Like Home, JDJ, NYC

May You Live the Rest of Your Lives, BravinLee Programs, NYC

2023

Holiday, LABspace, Hillsdale, NY

Chaos of Spring, Gold/Scopophilia, Montclair, NJ

2022

Art Estampa Fair, Rafael Pérez Hernando Gallery, Madrid, SP

Summer in the City, Hashimoto Gallery, NYC

Artists Draw Their Studios, Marymount Manhattan College, NY

Flower Shop, Smoke the Moon, Santa Fe, NM

Lush II, Hashimoto Gallery, NYC

2021

Artists Draw Their Studios, Byrdcliffe Woodstock-Kleinert James Gallery, NY

Warm Feelings, Tourist Gallery, White River Junction, VT

Emotional Support Art, Biggin Gallery, Auburn University, Auburn, AL

Treiber Farm Springtime Art Show, curated by Jonathan Weiskopf, Peconic, NY

Ten Paintings Upstairs, VSOP Gallery, Greenport, NY

Just what is it…?, Cristea Roberts, London, UK 

2020

Art on Paper Fair representing 3 Walls, NYC

At Home, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT 

2019

The Missing Half-Second, Able Baker Contemporary, 

Portland, ME curated by John Fireman

Seat, Échale Guindas, Madrid, Spain

With Feeling, Ground Floor Contemporary, Birmingham, AL 

Fourth Street Show, NY, NY, curated by Lexi Bishop 

Home Sweet Home, Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY 

Dream House, Gloria’s, Queens, NY, curated by Kate Gavriel 

2018

Untitled Art Fair, Pratt Alumni Booth, Miami, FL

Isolate, Hygienic Art, New London, CT, curated by Liz Antle

All Together, Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT, curated by Tracy McKenna

Still Lives, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY, curated by Alex Allenchey

Interior Fiction, Vastlab, Los Angeles, CA

True North, Labspace, Hillsdale, NY

Reading Between the Lines, Hashimoto Contemporary, Berkeley, CA

2017

Night Vision, Overhang Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Drawer organized by Flat File, Deli Gallery, Queens, NY

Home Economics, Woskob Family Gallery, State College, PA

The Electronic Art Gallery, Artspace, New Haven, CT

New Imagism, Good Work Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2016

Making the Future, David & Schweitzer Company, NY, NY

Speaking (as), Sideshow Gallery, Oxford, MI 

Rebus, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, NY, NY

2015  

Lost Cat, Cape Cod Museum of Art, MA

Paper Jam, Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY

Painting, The Low Museum of Contemporary Culture, Atlanta, GA

Grants and Collections

The Martha Boschen Porter Fund Grant, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation

Fidelity Investments 

Beth de Woody

Bibliography and Interviews

2026

Two Coats of Paint, Polly Shindler’s natural reverie, Lawre Stone

2024

Yale University Radio interview with Brainard Carey

2023 

Artsy, 11 Contemporary Artists Channeling Pierre Bonnard’s Post-Impressionist Vision, Cath Pound

Painting Visions of Home, Prattfolio Interview, Pratt Institute

2022

Summer in the City Comes to NYC, Juxtapoz Magazine

2021 

Art Spiel Interview, Etty Yaniv

2019 

Nut Second Yearly Publication, AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 

2018      

All Together, Art New England Review by Jacqueline Gleisner

Still Lives, Goings on Around Town, The New Yorker Magazine, Andrea K. Scott