Manju Shandler

Manju Shandler (B.A. Bennington College 1995) is a visual artist and theatre designer. She has created solo shows at over a dozen galleries and has exhibited in group shows and art fairs throughout the US and internationally. She regularly shows in her communities in New York City and is the creator and curator of the Upstate art venue, The Barn on Berme.  The September 11th Memorial & Museum exhibited 850 paintings from Shandler’s 3,000 piece painting installation, GESTURE. Manju Shandler has received numerous awards including University of Rhode Island’s Sea Grant for Visual Artists, The Art Asset Award from The ISE Cultural Foundation, NYFA Artist/Entrepreneur and The Art Sprinter Award.

Manju Shandler's Puppet/Costume Design has been featured at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, PS 122, The LABA Theatre and at Radio City Music Hall. She has received an Emmy Nomination, Innovative Theatre Award, a Jim Henson Foundation Grant and was an Emerging Artist at the Eugene O’Neill Puppetry Conference. She is one of the original sculptors of masks and puppetry for The Lion King on Broadway.

I create symbolic art that engages with the public. Building upon established storylinesfrom history, myth, and contemporary culture, my mixed media artworks create a richly layered narrative reflective of our complicated times. Drawing on my background as a theatrical designer to envision installations I create modern fables, stories that use animals to tell stories that are deceptively complex. I consider myself a true pagan and I hope my work will gently nudge the view to take stock of their own perceptions and the larger narratives at play in the world at large.

•   Manju Shandler