Charisse Pearlina Weston is a conceptual artist and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, her work examines Black interior life, resistance, and technologies of surveillance. Encompassing both physical and ideological apparatuses, these technologies work to reify anti- blackness. She interrogates, first, how these mechanisms employ socio-spatial proximity to manifest a constrictive form of intimacy and, second, how this intimacy enacts violence. She contends with this dynamic interplay of violence and intimacy through an engagement with the infrastructural poetics of Black tactics of refusal. Working across sculpture, writing, and photography, she examines how practices of repetition, enfoldment, concealment, and delay can re-articulate intimacy and Black interiors as sites of resistance.

CURRICULUM VITAE
Born 1988, Houston, TX
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY

EDUCATION
2020
Whitney Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY

2019
MFA in Studio with Critical Theory Emphasis, University of California–Irvine, CA

2012  
Diplôme Universitaires des Études Françaises-B2, Université de Rouen, Rouen, France 

2011
Masters of Science in Modern Art: History, Curating and Criticism, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edingburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland

2010
BA in Art History, University of North Texas, Denton, TX

SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024
when darkness risks being the forever nocturnal light itself, PATRON, Chicago, IL
…for the thing left there, Frieze New York, PATRON, New York, NY

2022 
of [a] tomorrow: lighter than air, stronger than whiskey, cheaper than dust, Queens Museum, Queens, NY

2021
Plunge, Cry, Curated by Ylinka Barotto at the Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, TX
Through: The Fold, The Shatter, Recess, New York, NY

2020
nine physical poems (7 of nine), Abrons Art Center, New York, NY

2019
An Appeal, but, in Particular, Very Expressly, To (i sink), UC Irvine Art Galleries, Irvine, CA 

2016
Politics Surrounded (Medley), Southern Constellations, Elsewhere Museum, Greensboro, NC

2015
The Red Book of Houston: A Compendium for the New Black Metropolis, Curated by Ryan Dennis, Round 43: Small Business/Big Change: Economic Perspectives, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX

2014
Travelin’ Man, Summer Studios, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Frieze Los Angeles, Jack Shainman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Whitney Biennial: Even Better Than the Real Thing, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

2023
Studio Museum AIR Exhibition, MOMA PS1, Long Island, NY
In Common: New Approaches to Romare Bearden, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at The New School, New York, NY
We is Future - Impulses for the Future, Curated by Studio ADG at the Museum of Folkwang, Essen, Germany 
SEVEN, We Buy Gold, Jack Shainman Gallery/Nicola Vassel Gallery, New York, NY
Color Effects, Galerie LeLong, New York, NY

2022
The Dissolution caus’d by Fire is in all Bodies, Curated by Luba Drozd and Rachel Vera Steinberg at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY 
Black Melancholia, Curated by Nana Adusei-Poku at Bard College, Hudson, NY 
This Tender, Fragile Thing, The School, Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY

2021
Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses, Art Pace, San Antonio, TX

2020
Whitney ISP Studio Exhibition, EFA Project Space, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Texas. Presented as part of African Cosmologies, Fotofest 2020 Biennial, Houston, TX. 

2019
while color lights up your face, Curated by Amanda Ross-Ho, Unit 5, Praz-Delavallade Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Southern Constellations Fellowship Exhibition, Curated by Jessica Gaynelle Moss at NC A&T University, Greensboro, NC

2018
Four Women, Curated by jill moniz at Quotidian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 
Challenger Deep, Garden, Los Angeles, CA 
Present Tense, Curated by Yevgeniya Mikhailik at Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA 
The Great Compromise, University Art Gallery, University of California-Irvine. Irvine, CA
Sustainability and the Public Good, Curated by Kim Abeles and Mika Cho at California State University-LA Fine Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2017
Sing the Body, Curated by Soo Kim and Virginia Teresa Arce at CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2016
Southern California/Baja California Biennial, San Diego Institute of Art, San Diego, CA
The Intersection Between Structure and Improvisational Space: Online Exhibition, Curated by Nathaniel Donnett, Not That But This. 

2015
[un]welcome. Borderlines: Migration and Movement, Part II, Voices Breaking Boundaries, Alexander House Apartments, Houston, TX

2014
Close Together. Borderlines: Migration and Movement, Part I, Voices Breaking Boundaries, Houston, TX
Drive, Curated by Joshua Fischer and Katia Zavistovski at Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 
2023
“The Art world has never fully embraced glass, Charisse Pearlina Weston is changing that,” Cultured Magazine, November 27
Amber Edmons, “Charisse Pearlina Weston: Black Resistance within the Fold”, Studio Magazine, October 13
Connor Spencer, “Review: Charisse Pearlina Weston of [a] tomorrow: lighter than air, stronger than whiskey, cheaper than dust,” Esse, Spring/Summer
Sylee Gore, “Review: Awaiting,” Poetry Foundation, March
Ayanna Dozier, “7 Leading Curators Predict the Defining Art Trends of 2023,” ArtNews, January

2022
“The Defining Exhibitions of 2022: Black Melancholia,” ArtNews, December
“7 Shows to See in New York Over Winter Break,” ArtNews, December
Chris Murtha, “New Talent: Charisse Pearlina Weston’s Glass Sculptures Challenge Beliefs About Transparency,” Art in America: “The Southwest”, November
Gregory Volk, “Two Sparse Brooklyn Exhibitions Probe the Elemental Forces of Life,” Hyperallergic, November
Alina Tugend, “Words and Actions: Queens Museum Shows About Seeking Racial Justice,” The New York Times, October
Kalia Richardson, “Studio Museum Harlem Welcomes Three New Artists-in-Residence,” The New York Times, October
Kristen Tauer, “Inside Charisse Pearlina Weston’s First Solo Museum Show,” WWD, October
Alex Greenberger “An Exhibition in Upstate New York is Redefining How Museums Convey Black Trauma,” ArtNews, September
Ayanna Dozier, “The New Generation of Black Artists Boldly Redefining Conceptual Art.” Artsy, Sep-tember
“Fine Folds.” American Craft Magazine, Fall
Holland Cotter, “For Black Artists, the Motivating Power of Melancholia,” The New York Times, June 

2021
“2021 Burke Prize Winner: Charisse Pearlina Weston.” October
Amaris Brown, ”Touch at Your Own Peril,” Recess, March 
Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses. Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Texas. New Glass Review 41, Corning Museum of Glass. Corning, New York. August

2018
“Art & Dialogue: Los Angeles Summary by Dexter Wimberly.” Artadia. December
“Jillith Moniz Curates Four Women, an Exhibition Inspired by their Experiences of Los Angeles.” Art and Cake LA, October

2017
Featured Artist. SPOOK Magazine. Issue 6. December

2015 
Alexandra Ir-rera, “Visual art, social practice, and entrepreneurial spirit: Round 43 at Project Row Houses,” Arts and Culture Texas, December
“Announcing the 2015 Artadia Houston Winners,” Artadia, November
“Artadia Names 10 Finalists for Houston Awards,” ARTnews, October
Dr. Margot Backus and Dr. Maria Gonzalez, “Round 43, Small Business/Big Change: Economic Perspectives from Artists and Artrepreneurs, ”Houston Press. Borderlines, Volume Two, Voices Breaking Bound-aries

PUBLICATIONS
2022
Awaiting, Ugly Duckling Press, Brooklyn, NY

2018
“Comfort | Coverage: Notes from the Editor-in-Chief,” Haunt Journal of Art: Volume 5. University of California Irvine, November
“the thing left there to pick up,” Lawndale Art Center, Commissioned essay for the exhibition “Jamal Cyrus x Jamire Williams: Boogaloo & The Midnite Hours”
“An Annotated Excerpt from The Red Book of Houston: A New Compendium for the New Black Metropolis (2015).” What’s the New News, Project/Site, Project Row Houses, January
“Of Darkness: Of Risk,” Not That but This, January

2017
“On Sinking” and “Interlude” in PVR 10 (Poetry). Pomona Valley Review. Issue 10. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Valley, California

2015
“About Highways,” Not That but This, April

PUBLIC TALKS/ INTERVIEWS
2023
Artists in Dialogue, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX 
“Underside, Underbelly, Undertow: A Conversation with Jamal Cyrus, Charisse Pearlina Weston and Cosmo Whyte,” Queens Museum, Queens, NY
Rakow Commission Artist Talk, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Visiting Artist Lecture, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Visiting Artist Lecture, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

2022
“to stall, delay, invert: An artist talk and conversation with Queens Museum Associate Curator Lindsey Berfond,” Bard Graduate Center, New York, NY
Artist Talk, Amant Foundation, Brooklyn, NY

2021
Texas Talks with Ylinka Barotto, Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston, TX
Visiting Seminar Artist (fields harrington), Parsons School of Art and Design, New York, NY

Visiting Seminar Artist (Black Melancholia/Nana Adusei-Poku), Bard College, NY
“Glass, Architecture, Intimacy” in Conversation with Michael Stone Richards, Recess, Brooklyn, NY
“Touch at Your Own Peril” in Conversation with Amaris Brown, Recess, Brooklyn, NY
Visiting Artist Lecture, Glass Education Exchange (GEEX)

2016
Southern Constellations Fellows Artist Talk, Elsewhere Museum, Durham, NC. 

SELECTED RESIDENCIES
2024
Artist in Residence Program, Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX 

2023
Artist in Residence, Studio Museum Harlem, New York, NY

2022
Artist in Residence, Thick Solidarity Residency, Organized by Related Tactics, Montalvo Center for the Arts. San Jose, CA
 
2021
Visiting Artist, UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Artist Fellow, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY 
Sessions Artist, Recess, New York, NY 

2020
Artist in Residence, Vision Residency, International Curatorial and Studio Program, Brooklyn, NY
Resident Artist, Bullseye Glass Residency, New York Resource Center, Mamaroneck, NY. 

2019
Resident Artist, AIRspace Visual Arts Residency, Abrons Art Center, New York, NY

2018
Associate Writer, Atlantic Center for the Arts.,Residency #169 with Terrance Hayes, New Smyrna, FL

2016
Artist Fellow, Southern Constellations Artist-in-Residence, Elsewhere Museum, Greensboro, NC 
Artist in Residence, Artist-In-Residence with Merit Scholarship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

2014
Artist in Residence, Summer Studios, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX

SELECTED GRANTS, AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS 
2024
Creative Capital Awardee, Creative Capital Foundation, New York, NY

2023
Hodder Fellowship, Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Jerome Foundation, St. Paul, MN

2022
Paul and Irene Hollister Fields of the Future Fellowship, Bard Graduate College, New York, NY
Rakow Commission, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant Nomination, New York, NY 
The DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program Nomination, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Berlin, Germany

2021
Artist Grant, Harpo Foundation, Miami, FL
Burke Prize, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
Research Grant, Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in Fine Arts, Chicago, IL

2020
Individual Artist Project Grant, Joseph Robert Foundation. 

2019
Dedalus MFA Fellowship, Dedalus Foundation, New York, NY
Painters and Sculptors Grant Nomination, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, NY

2018
Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship, Graduate Division, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA 
Research Grant, University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States, University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA
Individual Artist Grant, Glass Alliance of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Individual Artist Grant, Puffin Foundation, Teaneck, NJ

2017
21st Century Fellow, Institute for 21st Century Creativity, Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA

2016
Graduate Opportunity Fellowship, Graduate Division, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA. 
Southern Constellations Fellowship, Elsewhere Museum, Greensboro, NC
Arch and Anne Giles Kimbrough Fund Artist Award, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX

2015
Individual Artist Award, Santo Foundation, Saint Louis, MS 
Houston Artadia Award, Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue, Brooklyn, NY

COLLECTIONS
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY