Current Exhibition
shapeshifting · Via Boley
September 10 - November 7, 2026
40 x 30 in, aluminum, ink, acrylic on wood panel
30 x 40 in, reflective vinyl, ink, acrylic on wood panel
36 x 24 in, aluminum, ink, acrylic on wood panel
40 x 30 in, aluminum, ink, acrylic on wood panel
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
• Artist Talk with Via Boley - October 24 | 3 - 5PM
Coming Soon
beyond brushstrokes · Magnus
November 5 - December 2, 2026
Unchained.Art Contemporary Gallery presents beyond brushstrokes, a solo exhibition by Magnus, a Danish multidisciplinary artist, the artist’s third solo show with the gallery.
People and animals, fantasy and the everyday, in bold color and sharp detail: work that rewards a second, closer look.
Magnus is a master storyteller, and his works hold more than they reveal at first glance. His figurative paintings explore contemporary life with a keen eye, weaving complex narratives and a touch of humor into every brushstroke. Drawing on his Scandinavian roots and his observations, he creates colorful, bold works rich in striking detail and fantasy. The paintings are not only visually captivating portrayals of people and animals, their strength and their personality, but also carry messages that encourage the viewer to explore and question the world around them.
Each piece is a story waiting to unfold; hidden details lend depth and meaning to the work and await discovery by those who take the time to look closely. It is not just the big picture that matters to Magnus, but the small, everyday quirks. Magnus is not afraid to inject a touch of humor and playfulness, a reminder not to take ourselves too seriously. He works across drawing, painting, and installation, and for this exhibition he presents new paintings that speak on several levels and invite the viewer into the unfolding narrative. His dedication to exploring new ideas and techniques keeps the work constantly evolving; with this exhibition his distinctive style draws on his earlier periods and blends them with his most recent work, letting a little more fantasy come through. He reflects on his social curiosity and challenges the viewer visually and intellectually.
“There is more to each of my artworks than meets the eye. I hide messages and communicate with humor about how I observe the world,” says Magnus.
“Magnus is one of the four artists I started the gallery with in 2020. His observation of the world and how he translates it into a visual, works in a mysterious and curly way: he would already be turning it into his next painting, something I had not even noticed myself. He takes the everyday, and whatever is happening around us, and makes something positive out of it. To have him back here in Austin means a great deal,” says Christina Hiltscher, Owner and Director of Unchained.Art Contemporary Gallery.
Magnus is a Danish multidisciplinary artist who grew up, lives, and works in Copenhagen. Largely self-taught, he began painting as a teenager and later trained in art schools, spending years as an art director and graphic designer before turning to his art full-time in 2014. He is best known for his large acrylic paintings but also works in oil, sculpture, drawing, and installation. His range runs from drawings and intimate canvases to large-scale commissions, including a work nearly twenty feet wide, painted in stages because his Copenhagen apartment could not hold it at full size, for a private villa in Italy. His figurative, narrative work carries a Pop Art sensibility and an early debt to Picasso, and it has been shown in Copenhagen and across Denmark, throughout Europe, and in New York, where the exhibition sold out before it opened. Magnus draws on small, everyday curiosities: people, animals, situations, and the news. He says little about the work itself, asking viewers to reach their own conclusions.
A selection of Magnus’s work will also feature at an invitation-only event hosted at the Danish Consulate in Houston on November 6.
With beyond brushstrokes, 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 with the artist - November 5 · 5 - 8PM