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In Sharon Booma’s new works, vibrant fields of color burst across the canvas, supporting an expertly balanced structural harmony. Rich, multiple layers of pigment lend the paintings an immense depth, as if hidden regions lurk behind the surface —an effect heightened by Booma’s masterful control of shadow and light. Sections of steel, seamlessly incorporated into the paintings, add a sense of coolness and weight, helping to ground her more elusive forms.

Booma speaks of her work as being “representative of the effort to find a balance between the tangible materials that surround us and the ungraspable spiritualism that defines us as individually unique people.” It is this concept, perhaps, that causes us to respond to her paintings on such deep and visceral level. While the philosophy behind her work does not announce itself in literal terms, her images nevertheless have an irresistible intrigue, the ability to stir powerful emotions. Among Booma’s major influences is Henri Matisse, leader of the French Fauve movement, who believed color communicated meaning and who emphasized the bold use of vivid pigment in his work. For Booma, too, color represents that which is uncontained, full of life and joy. She moderates the emotions of her colors through the use of shape and form, exerting careful control over the ultimate mood of her paintings.

Another of Booma’s inspirations is Abstract Expressionism—particularly the work of Robert Motherwell, who simplified forms to concentrate on bold brush strokes and intense, focused color. Motherwell sought to combine the conscious world in which we live with the realm of the unconscious, linking many of his abstract forms to the conscious world through his titles. Like him, Booma views her abstractions as manifestations of her psyche: Using a language of pure color and exquisite composition, her paintings are like thoughts made visible.

Solo Exhibitions

• 2010 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
• 2008 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA.
• 2007 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
  Olson/Larsen Gallery, West Des Moines, IA.
  Anderson O’Brien Fine Art, Omaha, NE.
• 2006 LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM.
  Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
  Arden Gallery Boston, MA.
• 2005 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, New York, NY.
  Olson/Larsen Gallery, West Des Moines, IA.
  Anderson O’Brien Fine Art, Omaha, NE.
• 2004 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
  Lewallen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM.
• 2003 Anderson O’Brien Fine Art, Omaha, NE.
• 2002 Lewallen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM.
  Olson/Larsen Gallery, West Des Moines, IA.
• 2000 Anderson O’Brien Fine Art,Omaha, NE.
  Lewallen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM.

Group Exhibitions

• 2011 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
• 2005 Jules Place, Boston, MA.
• 2004 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
  Ameringer & Yohe, Boca Raton, FL.
  Jules Place, Boston, MA.
• 2003 Harvard Spring Exhibition – In Good Company, Boston, MA.
  Ameringer & Yohe, Boca Raton, FL.
  Olson/Larsen Gallery West Des Moines, IA.
  Hayden Gallery, Lincoln, NE.
• 2002 Olson/Larsen Gallery, West Des Moines, IA.
• 2001 Hayden Gallery Group Invitational, West Des Moines, IA.
  Hayden Gallery Small Treasures, West Des Moines, IA.
  Olson/Larsen Gallery Group Show, West Des Moines, IA.
• 2000 Hayden Gallery Small Treasures, Lincoln, NE.
  Hayden Gallery Group Invitational, Lincoln, NE.
• 1999 Hayden Gallery, Lincoln, NE.
  Hillmer Gallery Women and Aging Show, Omaha, NE.
  Anderson O’Brien Gallery, Omaha, NE.
  Olson/Larsen Gallery, West Des Moines, IA.
• 1998 Anderson O’Brien Gallery, Omaha, NE.
  Olson/Larsen Gallery, West Des Moines, IA.
• 1997 Anderson O’Brien Gallery, Omaha, NE.
  Bemis Gallery Women’s Caucus For Art, Omaha, NE.
• 1996 Anderson O’Brien Gallery, Omaha, NE.
• 1994 Tom’s Price Gallery, Wheaton, IL.
• 1993 Tom’s Price Gallery, Wheaton, IL.
  Graphic Source Gallery, Barrington, IL.
• 1992 Norris Cultural Arts Center, St. Charles, IL.
• 1990 The Creamery Gallery, Geneva, IL.
  The Connecticut Gallery, Marlborough, CT.

Invitations and Awards

• 2005 Published in "The Art of Color" 2005 by Paul Zelanski and Mary Pat Fisher.
  Reviewed in "Art in America" - City Focus: San Francisco, CA.
• 2004 City Focus: San Francisco- 'Bubbling Over in Talent' September 2004.
• 2002 Published in “The Art of Seeing”, by Paul Zelanski and Mary Fisher, 5th Edition Prentice Hall.
  Dubuque Museum or Art, Invitational, Kearney, NE.
• 2001 Museum of Nebraska Art, Invitational, Kearney, NE.
• 1999 Marxhausen Gallery, Abstract Balance Invitational, Concordia University, Seward, NE.
• 1995 John Slade Ely House Connecticut Invitational IV, Curator’s Choice, New Haven, CT.
• 1994 Silvermine Gallery, Art of the North East, Top painting Award, New Canaan, CT.
  Slater Museum, Connecticut, Academy Show, Norwich, CT.
• 1993 John Slade Ely House, CT Women’s Artist Award, New Haven, CT.
  Salt Box Gallery, West Hartford, CT.
  Slater Museum, Connecticut, Academy Show, Norwich, CT.
• 1989 Essex Art Association Painting Award, Essex, CT.
  The Connecticut Gallery, Four Women Show, Marlborough, CT.
• 1988 Essex Art Association painting Award, Essex, CT.