Sean Downey
Sean Downey received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA from Boston University. He has had recent solo exhibitions at Steven Zevitas Gallery (Boston, MA) and LaMontagne Gallery (Boston, MA), and has been included in recent group exhibitions at Richard Heller Gallery (Santa Monica, CA), Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (Boston, MA), the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA (Portland, ME), the Leroy Neiman Gallery at Columbia University (New York, NY), LaMontagne Gallery (Boston, MA), and Park Place Gallery (Brooklyn, NY). He is a 2013 recipient of the Blanche E. Colman Award, a 2014 recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship, and a 2015 MacDowell Colony Fellow. Downey is a founding member of the curatorial collaborative kijidome, winner of the 2015 James and Audrey Foster Prize from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. His work has been profiled in recent editions of Art Maze Magazine, New American Paintings, Maake Magazine, and the I Like Your Work Podcast.
Education
- MFA, Boston University, Boston, MA
- BFA, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Solo exhibitions
- 2025 Motion Pictures, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2022 Why Each Perfumed Flower, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2022 Two-Hundred Percent of Life, Anderson Gallery, Drake University, Des Moines, IA
- 2021 Random Rules, Shelter in Place Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2019 Sean Downey: Books-Eyes-Red, The Times Club, Iowa City, IA
- 2017 Wholly Idle, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2015 MARS, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA
- 2014 Hunker Hawser, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2012 Sean Downey: Recent Work, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA, Petrified Forest, Flying Object, Hadley, MA
Selected group exhibitions
- 2025 Falling Apart Conceptually, Anderson Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2025 Muddy Music, One Mile Gallery, Kingston, NY
- 2024 Kind of Open, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2023 Autumn Evolution, Mary Heaton Vorse House, Provincetown, MA
- 2022 UNTITLED Art Fair, LaMontagne Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
- 2022 New Acquisitions, Zillman Art Museum, Bangor, ME
- 2021 In Crystallized Time, Museum of Museums, Seattle, WA
- 2021 Breaking the Material Plane, Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, NY
- 2020 Benson Downey Wetzel, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2020 Oh to be a Painting, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston, MA
- 2020 Black & White vs. Color, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
- 2020 LOVE 2020: Perfect Vision, Leroy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY
- 2019 beneath the beach, seamless paving stones, Rhizome Parking Garage
ToPaintersToPaintings Online Exhibition #2, curated by Kurt Beers - 2018 Sun Worship and Solar Machines, Assemblage Gallery, Boston, MA, Out of Our Closet, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, MA, You Never Know How You Look Through Other People’s Eyes, ICA at Maine College of Art, Portland, ME , Circle Time, Able Baker Contemporary, Portland, ME
- 2017 The Work on Paper Show, Park Place Gallery, Brooklyn, NY , Transmutations: Esteban del Valle, Sean Downey, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA , Space as Narrative, Concord Center for the Visual Arts, Concord, MA, Got it for Cheap, The Hole, New York, NY; Soulland, Copenhagen, DK; Macaulay & Co Fine Art, Vancouver, BC , The Human Form, Park Place Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- 2016 Irregular Landscapes, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA, A Somatic Fall, Ess Ef Eff, Brooklyn, NY, Interiors, Dorchester Arts Project, Boston, MA
- 2014 MCC Artist Fellows in Painting, New Art Center, Newton, MA, Convergence: BU Alumni Exhibition, Boston University, Boston, MA, Wild and Wooly, New Art Center, Newton, MA Sean Downey / Rachelle Agundes: Travel in My Borrowed Lives, University of Maine
- 2013 All Our Tomorrows and Yesterdays, Proof Gallery, Boston, MA 2013 PUNCH Invitational, PUNCH Gallery, Seattle, WA, Sean Downey / Rachelle Agundes: Travel in My Borrowed Lives, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, ME
- 2012 Four Young Boston Painters, LaMontagne Gallery, Boston, MA, Take Shelter in the World, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, MA, Hung Jury, 225 Friend Street, Boston, MA
- 2011 Brooklyn Transmigration Part II, TaB Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY, Chain Letter, Samson Projects, Boston, MA Brooklyn Transmigration Part I: Portals & Poets, TaB Fine Art, Tabernash, CO
- 2010 I-95 Triennial: A Survey from Four New England States, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, ME
- 2009 Winter Solstice: An Exhibition of Small Works, The Lincoln Building, Waltham, MA
- 2008 Sting!3, The Beehive, Boston, MA, La Romeria/Viva Last Blues: Paintings by Alfredo Gisholt and Sean Downey, The Lincoln Building, Waltham, MA , Sting!2, The Beehive, Boston, MA, South Press Print Invitational, Carillon Gallery, Fort Worth, TX
- 2007 On Paper: Prints by Contemporary Artists, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA, Heads, Studio A.I.R., Brooklyn, NY
- 2006 Spot On, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
- 2005 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Boston University, Boston, MA, Summery Summary, 58 N3, Brooklyn, NY
Selected curatorial / writing
- 2018 Catalog essay – Jim Shrosbree: Apparent / Appearance, The Times Club at Prairie Lights (Iowa City: UICB/Prairie Lights, 2018); exhibition catalog.
- 2016 Dan Boardman, Contact Sheet, issue 187, 2016 Light Work Annual, pp. 80-87, Dan Boardman/Audrey Hope, kijidome, Boston, MA
- 2015 kijidome, James and Audrey Foster Prize Exhibition, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
- 2014 Green Dream, kijidome, Boston, MA, The Hovering Life (curated by kijidome)
- 2013 Co-founder of artist collaborative kijidome (Boston, MA), S01E01 (curated by kijidome), kijidome, Boston, MA
Awards / residencies
- 2025 Claybreak Residency, University of Arkansas
- 2024 Ucross Foundation Residency/Fellowship
- 2019 Faculty Research Grant, Wege Foundation, Maharishi International University
- 2017 Theodore and Jane Norman Award for Faculty Scholarship, Brandeis University
- 2015 (with kijidome) James and Audrey Foster Prize, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MacDowell Colony Fellowship
- 2014 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship
- 2013 Blanche E. Colman Foundation Award
- 2011/12 Theodore and Jane Norman Award for Faculty Scholarship, Brandeis University
- 2010 Residency/Fellowship, Ucross Foundation
- 2001 Residency, Vermont Studio Center
Teaching / presentations
- 2007-present Senior Lecturer in Fine Arts / Post-Baccalaureate Coordinator, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
- 2018 Visiting Critic, Boston University, Boston, MA Visiting Artist, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA Visiting Critic, Spring Semester, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA Mentor, Lesley University Low-Res MFA Program, Cambridge, MA Mentor, New Hampshire Institute of Art Low-Res MFA Program
- 2017 Mentor, Lesley University Low-Res MFA Program Visiting Artist, Maharishi International University, Fairfield, IA
- 2016 Mentor, New Hampshire Institute of Art Low-Res MFA Program
- 2015 Mentor, New Hampshire Institute of Art Low-Res MFA Program Visiting Critic/Artist Presentation, New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, NH Visiting Critic, BFA Reviews, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA Visiting Critic/Artist Presentation, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Visiting Critic/Artist Presentation, Massachusetts College of Art Visiting Critic, Junior Painting, Rhode Island School of Design Visiting Critic/Artist Presentation, Maharishi International University, Fairfield, IA Visiting Artist Presentation, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA
- 2014 Visiting Artist Presentation, Boston University, Boston, MA Visiting Lecturer, Rhode Island School of Design
- 2013-14 Artist Mentor, MassArt MFAWC MFA Program, Boston, MA
- 2012 Visiting Critic, Sophomore Painting, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA Visiting Artist, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA Visiting Artist Presentation, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA Presenter, Salon Series: Artists Inspired by Film, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
- 2005-2006 Visiting Lecturer in Fine Arts, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Bibliography
- Conde, Adriana. “Las realidades virtuales pictóricas de Sean Downey.” Joia Magazine, October 2021
- Hess, Erika. “Artist Sean Downey: From Oil Painting to Virtual Reality, Meditation, & being an Artist Parent.” I Like Your Work Podcast, December 20, 2019
- Art Maze Magazine, Issue 10, November 2018
- Maake Magazine, Issue 6, curated by Holly Coulis. January 2018
- Michelman, Elizabeth. “Evoking Curiosity and Empathy: Transmutations at Montserrat.” Artscope, January/February 2018
- Pyper, John. “Seeing our digital lives more clearly through painting.” Hyperallergic, November 2, 2017
- Hajmiragha, Sholeh. “Sean Downey.” Work in Progress, January 2017.
- Rushford, Sarah. “Dan Boardman / Audrey Hope at kijidome.” Big Red & Shiny, July 21, 2016
- McQuaid, Cate. “Pious conversions, dazzling domesticity, and ghosts made tangible.” The Boston Globe, May 10, 2016
- New American Paintings, Book #122, Sarah Montross. Northeast Edition, p. 52-55, February/March 2016
- Hutchinson, Scout. “Compass Ketchup: kijidome.” Boston Hassle, April 11, 2015
- Browning, Celine. “2105 Foster Prize interviews: kijidome.” Big Red & Shiny, March 30, 2015
- McQuaid, Cate. “At Miller Yezerski Gallery desire meets creation.” The Boston Globe, May 6, 2014
- Caldwell, Edmond. “Review: Green Dream at kijidome.” Big Red & Shiny, February 19, 2014
- Bergeron, Chris. “Newton exhibit explores history and myth of the Old West.” MetroWest Daily News, January 23, 2014
- McQuaid, Cate. “The myth of the Wild West, and its murky construction.” The Boston Globe, January 21, 2014
- West, Nancy Shohet. “‘Wild and Woolly’ show at Newton’s New Art Center.” The Boston Globe, January 9, 2014
- Cardon, Stephanie. “Review: All Our Tomorrows and Yesterdays at Proof.” Big Red & Shiny, December 5, 2013
- McQuaid, Cate. “Fine alternative: uplifting show from the ‘bottom rung.’” The Boston Globe, October 29, 2013
- Cardon, Stephanie. “Welcome to Kijidome.” Big Red & Shiny, October 9, 2013
- McQuaid, Cate. “States of Being.” The Boston Globe, March 14, 2012.
- McQuaid, Cate. “Deft, Detailed, Apocalyptic.” The Boston Globe, February 8, 2012.
Kany, Daniel. “Paintings in the key of Dylan anchor strong lineup at UMMA.” Maine Sunday Telegram, August 25, 2013.