email: silas@silaslong.com
instagram: @silaslong_
Silas Long (b. 1995, they/them), who lives and works in Chicago, is a multimedia artist and curator who works in textile, photography, drawing, sculpture, and video. In their work they draw together traditional art-making techniques, such as fabric-dyeing, embroidery, painting, and drawing, with new techniques such as digital collage, 3D modeling software, and inkjet printing to examine the threshold between the physical and the digital. Influenced by psychology, horror media, fantasy symbolism, and the aesthetics of subculture, their work is located halfway between abstraction and figuration. While experimenting with the interplay between materiality and image, they investigate the perceptual and emotional influence exerted by the digital realm.
They received their BFA from the University of Cincinnati in 2017. Long’s work has been exhibited at Sometimes Space in Ypsilanti, MI; Basketshop Gallery in Cincinnati, OH; Mean Street Gallery in Cincinnati, OH; Dream Clinic Project Space in Columbus, OH; and the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH. From 2021-2023, they were Co-Curator for Rainbow Gallery in Cincinnati, OH and currently, they curate exhibitions at Not Not in Chicago, IL.
education
Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Cincinnati (2017)
solo exhibitions
2025 dark curtain, Sometimes Space (Ypsilanti, Michigan)
2024 interior ruin, Basketshop (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2017 Breakdown, 2200 Victory Pkwy (Cincinnati, Ohio)
two-person exhibitions
2023 Distortions, Mean Street Gallery (Cincinnati, Ohio)
selected group exhibitions
2023 Mirroring, Dream Clinic Project Space (Columbus, Ohio)
Infinite Life, virtual exhibition, curated by Stone House Art Gallery (Detroit, Michigan)
2022 Autogenesis, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2018 The Temperature #7, River House Arts, Curated by The Neon Heater (Toledo, Ohio)
Companion Pieces, Anytime Dept. (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2017 Hanging on, Safe Space (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Sewn Façades, Solway Gallery (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Director's Choice Exhibition, Reed Gallery (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2016 At Capacity, 840 Gallery (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Better Than Art, 3026 Bathgate Street (Cincinnati, Ohio)
selected curatorial projects
2025 Night Visions, Not Not (Chicago, Illinois)
2024 HEAT, Not Not (Chicago, Illinois)
2023 Kelly Agius, Welcome to the Underworld, Rainbow (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Caro Prados Burks, Softly & Tenderly, Rainbow (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2022 Alexis Mabry, Good Morning Cruel World, Rainbow (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Aliyah Salmon, I Said What I Said, Rainbow (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2021 Dominic Rabalais, Neo-Virginity, Rainbow (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Ava Wanbli, Sertraline Dolls, Rainbow (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Welly Fletcher, Elephant Shoe, Rainbow (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2019 hybrid interference, group exhibition, xtudio (Cincinnati, Ohio)
slush pit, group exhibition, xtudio (Cincinnati, Ohio)
2018 Sm0k3scr33n, group exhibition, xtudio (Cincinnati, Ohio)
pulling up, group exhibition, xtudio (Cincinnati, Ohio)
awards
#3 Best Art Gallery - Rainbow, CityBeat (2023)
Director’s Choice - 3D Media (2017)
press
"A Review of Artist Run Spaces at the Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati," Sixty Inches from Center, September 15, 2022
professional experience
Media Manager, Solway Gallery (Cincinnati, Ohio), 2017 – present
Creative & Digital Content, Kavi Gupta Gallery (Chicago, Illinois), 2024
Co-Curator, Rainbow (Cincinnati, Ohio), 2021 – 2023
Studio Assistant/Art Handler, Welly Fletcher (Cincinnati, Ohio), 2017 – 2018