Inspired by whimsey and purity of the feminine form, Cindy Shaoul is known for her impressionistic and abstract style. She is best recognized for her series of Brides, Dripping Dots and Hearts, as well as her Plein air street scenes of quintessential New York spots. Shaoul’s works can be found in hundreds of permanent Corporate and Private Collections around the world.
Her love of painting began at the age of 18 when she was on Thanksgiving break from college. She painted a 9 foot colorful, abstract Mural in her Mothers' art studio and never stopped after that. She later traveled to Israel and Hungary, picking up inspiration and studying abroad, which created lifelong experiences that would influence her art today. Upon her return to New York City, she continued her artistic education at the Art Students League, working under the tutelage of Joseph Peller, Gregg Kreutz, and Tom Torak where she learned techniques from the great masters of impressionism. But, it wasn’t until she met renowned street artist LA II (Angel Oritz) who previously worked with Keith Haring, that her work would strongly become influenced by street art and graffiti, propelling her reputation and pushing her into the city’s explosive urban art scene. Shaoul and LA II worked on a collection that was an homage to New York’s streets, where Ortiz and Haring began collaborating when they first met. This style of creation heavily impacted Shaoul’s technique, expanding her voice of discovery and moving her hand, not only from impressionism, but to boundary-free expressions in the abstract world.
While Shaoul honed her skills at the Art Students League, in her studio the “Dripping Dots” began a whole new aesthetic. This abstract style started as she would clean her brushes and leftover paint from her pallet onto a new canvas, the motion of cleaning turned into dots on the canvas. She began connecting the dots with linseed oil and this is how the motif of ‘dripping’ was imprinted. It would become a freeing moment while painting abstractly after going to school and learning the impressionist technique. The experience of discovery with color and emotion in the brushwork became very cathartic, and felt familiar from the times she would collaborate with LA II.
In 2018 she began the “Brides” series which balances her love for impressionism with an abstract hand. While exploring the purity of the feminine form and the drama of French haute couture, she would create a dialogue between the figurative and the abstract. The Brides would give a new meaning of expression to her practice, and allowed nuances to emerge, demonstrating a whimsical expression of femininity and formality adding a stunning display of awe-inspiring grandeur to her work.
Publications like Fine Art Globe, Vanity Fair, and The Times of Israel have written about her work. Her studio is a vibrant and exciting place that is ever-changing with art pieces, tables lined with oil paint tubes, backgrounds for hearts, and new and worked-on canvases that line the walls.