Contact
Catherine Wang McMahon (b. 1999, San Francisco, CA, USA; they/she) is a queer, biracial Chinese-American artist whose practice began at age 5 at Xing Xing Art Studio in the Sunset District of San Francisco. They hold a BFA in Studio Art from New York University.
Shaped by their multicultural family—mother an immigrant from China, stepdad from India, stepmom from Brazil, and father, a Vietnam War veteran and the son of Italian and Irish immigrants—Catherine’s work explores the complexities of kinship through ecological and transgenerational landscapes. They aim to challenge dominant narratives and legacies of extraction, exploitation, and destruction across borders and barriers. Catherine’s site-specific works are rooted in the belief in the life force of nature (氣, qi, प्राण, prana, força vital). They seek to foster symbiotic, sustainable relationships with Earth, advocating for the legal personhood and protections of the land, living beings, and one another in the fight against climate change. Climate issues must be seen as inherently intersectional, recognizing the interconnectedness of environmental, social, and cultural dynamics. To care for Earth is to care for each other.
Primarily working on unstretched, grommeted paintings, their practice invites fluidity and mobility—installed across structures, ceilings, and walls in response to the specific space they inhabit. This flexibility evokes their background in traditional Asian watercolor landscape paintings, often made in the format of scrolls. By forgoing traditional stretchers and frames, their practice challenges and reframes contemporary painting norms rooted in the dominant Western art canon. This disruption parallels protest architecture, where flexibility, impermanence, and adaptability are key—similar to the use of tents, tarps, and found materials to protest and protect. This method also reduces the environmental impact of art packing, transport and logistics, further aligning their practice with their commitment to sustainability and a more interconnected, compassionate world.
catherinewmcmahon (at) gmail (dot) com
Curriculum Vitae
CATHERINE WANG MCMAHON
b. 1999, San Francisco, CA, USA
EDUCATION
2022 BFA, Studio Art, New York University, New York, NY
2019 Study Abroad, New York University, Paris, France
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 California Nature, Four Chicken Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 Portraits from Home, Pacific Felt Factory, San Francisco, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Hot Mess, Developing Environments, San Francisco, CA
Truth As A Necessity, Galleria Boheme, San Francisco, CA
2023 Pyramid Scheme, Bass & Reiner, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
2022 Will There Really Be A Morning, NYU The Commons and Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY
Retro/Intro, NYU IFA Curatorial Collaborative, New York, NY
Natural Habitats, Cabrillo Gallery, Aptos, CA
2021 Queer Art, FUZE, New York, NY
2020 BFA, Serving the People, Augmented Reality
2019 Dinner Party, NYU Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2021 SNF Grant, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2020 Alternative Exposures Grant, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Artistic Practice Award, New York University, New York, NY
Global Pathways Scholarship, New York University, Paris, France
2017–22 Steinhardt Studio Art Scholarship, New York University, NY
EXPERIENCE
Present AIR Program Specialist, Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program, San Francisco, CA
Juror, Brower Center, Art/Act: Local 2025, Berkeley, CA
2022-23 Gallery Manager, Micki Meng Gallery (Friends Indeed), San Francisco, CA
2021-22 Painting Restoration Apprentice, Chelsea Restoration Associates, Inc., Bronx, NY