Washington, DC, 20002
shaylinmw@gmail.com | www.smwvisuals.com

Shaylin Wallace

ARTIST BIO

Shaylin Wallace (b.1999), also known as "Shay the Surrealist" is a Jamaican-American digital artist from Wilmington, Delaware. She is currently based in Washington, DC.

During her freshman year of high school, Wallace began exploring surrealism, intrigued by surreal paintings. Soon after learning about surrealism, she began taking her photographs and editing them in surrealistic ways. She created photo-manipulations on her cellphone using photo-editing apps such as PicsArt, Snapseed, and VSCO. Her past-time hobby steadily became a passion. When she wasn't in school, she spent her free time making art.

After graduating high school, Wallace decided to become a graphic designer and enrolled at Salisbury University. In the Spring of 2021, she received her BFA in Graphic Design, graduating at the top of her class. With her newfound design knowledge, she began to expand her company, SMW Visuals, freelancing as an artist and graphic designer. With a lot of hard work, dedication, and long nights, Wallace's dream of becoming a full-time artist gradually became her reality. She began receiving incredible freelance projects and commissioned requests from companies such as Adobe, Mercedes-Benz, Scholastics, and Netflix. Shaylin's success as a freelance artist and graphic designer was nothing short of a miracle, but divine alignment. Her work and ideas truly spoke for itself.

Wallace's artworks have been exhibited all over the world and admired by millions of people. In the United States, she has had exhibitions in New York, Georgia, and Miami Art Basel in Florida. Her works have been exhibited overseas in Italy, Portugal, and Dubai. In the fall of 2023, Wallace had her very first solo exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary Platform Gallery in Wilmington, Delaware. Her solo exhibition honored her childhood, her first home, and the city she grew up in. This collection of works was created using her illustrative line art style, pulling on nostalgia and her inner child. Having her first solo exhibition in Wilmington where she grew up was a full-circle moment for Shaylin.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create surreal digital collages using Photoshop. By digitally combining, cutting and pasting photos together, I turn ordinary images into extraordinary surreal masterpieces. I use collage as a way to capture and bring my innermost thoughts, feelings and imaginative ideas to life. Many of my works center around the divine connection between humans, nature, and the universe. My speciality is blending flowers, portraits and elements of the natural world together, creating a vulnerable, yet stunning series of artworks. I have many unique surreal styles that can be very minimalistic, colorful, amusing or powerful.

I draw abstract line drawings which I call my doodle drawings using Procreate. In April 2022, I felt called to draw something fun and effortless. I began to draw abstract lines and dots until the whole canvas was filled. After my first drawing, I never stopped. Each drawing I created became more detailed and more intricate than the one before. My main color palette is the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow. I've always drawn with the primary colors within my digital illustrations, followed by a black background. These colors have the perfect balance of contrast as well as a nostalgic feel.

Education

2017-2021

Graphic Design, BFA

Salisbury University - Salisbury, MD

Awards

2020

Certificate of Honorable Mention - Envision Arts Show

2017

Scholastic Art & Writing Awards - Silver Medal: Digital Art
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards - Silver Key: Digital Art
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards - Gold Key: Digital Art
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards - Honorable Mention: Art Portfolio
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards - Honorable Mention: Digital Art