Unchained.Art Contemporary Gallery presents shapeshifting, the first solo exhibition by local Austin-based painter Via Boley. Working in cut and sanded metal, ink glazes, and thin layers of acrylic, Boley builds each piece toward a single point where something has to give, and something new takes its place.

“I have been thinking a lot about gaining strength through tension,” says Boley. “To experience tension is to change.”
Cubist-inspired objects colliding and warping across the surface, a fractured reflection in place of a whole one. In a culture that praises visual perfection, the goal, in her words, is to show the beauty in breaking down; allowing to contain many states. Many of the pieces sit on reflective metallic surfaces, standing in for the everyday mirror. Rather than a clean, surface-level image looking back, Boley breaks it apart instead. For her that fragmentation is not a flaw to fix. Using metal allows her to take something so restrictive in what it portrays and through cutting, painting, peeling, and sanding gets at something a plain reflection cannot hold.

That instability is personal. “When I look past my body, I contain multitudes,” Boley has said of the series, a body that shifts between states, healthy one day, inflamed or unreliable the next. "I am impaled by my appearance, my body, my limits." The finished paintings hold that chaos rather than resolve it: soft edges, sharp protective spikes, dark moments, and bright, joyful ones, all in the same piece. It is this refusal to settle into one version, one image, one fixed self, that gives the show its name. Boley hopes the work lets viewers reconcile with their own internal tension and see the value in it. Each finished artwork contains compartmentalized pieces of oneself. Being comfortable with vulnerability, even embracing it.

“Boley’s work and herself are going from strength to strength. Her momentum palpable and visible in each piece. Less than a year ago, she was part of the inaugural show that opened our downtown space. Now she is owning her space, showing a strong technical evolution and building directly on that work. As cliché as it sounds, witnessing her growth and working with her towards this milestone, a cohesive and inevitable next chapter (of many) is an honor,” says Christina Hiltscher, Owner and Director of Unchained.Art Contemporary Gallery.

Boley (b. 1999), originally from Boston, holds a BFA in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (2021), where she was selected as one of two undergraduate students featured in the school's Annual Auction that year; she returned as a participating alumna in 2025. She has exhibited in Boston and Austin, including a 2025 Curator-in-Residence visit at Artpace in San Antonio. Her recognition includes the Frick Arts Foundation Award (2025), the Gamblin Paint Award, the Roger Tibbetts Art Award, and the Artist and Craftsman Award. She completed a residency at Cow House Studios in Ireland in 2023 and currently works from her studio at Splinter Group Studios in Austin

With shapeshifting, the gallery continues its commitment to representing emerging and established artists whose work is authentic, bold and has an independent voice. Founded in Zurich in 2020 and now based in a historic Beaux-Arts building in downtown Austin, Unchained.Art Contemporary Gallery presents a curated program connecting artists from Austin, across the U.S., and internationally.

Program Highlights
•    Opening Reception - September 10 | 5 - 8PM
•    Morning Coffee and Artist Meet and Greet - September 19 | 10AM - 12PM
•    Happy Hour with Live Painting - October 1 | 6 - 8PM
•    Artist Talk with Via Boley - October 24 | 3 - 5PM

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