MANJU SHANDLER

Manju Shandler

Manju Shandler is visual storyteller. Using a variety of mediums in fine art and theatrical design she engages the viewer by creating an engaging visual experience in both theatrical and gallery contexts.

Theatre Design

Shandler’s stage design is character driven. Her costume, puppet, and mask design transform the human body.

Shandler’s production design for Cinderella and the Prince Who Slays the Magic Dragon, a puppet/ballet/orchestra performance set to the music by Prokofiev will be performed at Avery Fisher Hall in the spring, 2009 for the Little Orchestra Society.

Past projects include Associate Design of Radio City Music Hall’s Carnivale Spectacular, An Emmy Nomination in Costume Design Styling for The Book of Pooh, an Emerging Artist Project at the Eugene O’Neill National Puppetry Conference, A Grant Recipient from the Jim Henson Foundation, and a sculptor of the masks and puppetry for The Lion King on Broadway.

Visual Art

Shandler’s visual art reflects her background in performance and theatrical conventions instructing her how to create an engaging visual experience. A current series of paintings underscore this motif by taking iconic characters and plotlines with intertwining narratives to create a multifaceted story. See New Works in the Gallery section for more.

Her nearly 3000 piece painting installation, Gesture, is a memorial to those lost on September 11th. Reflecting the size of this lost with one painting for each person lost, it is a personal study of the tremendous ramifications of this one day in our collective history. Bergdorf Goodman generously donated their store windows to Gesture for 9/11’s second anniversary. Gesture filled the Honfleur Gallery in Washington DC in September 2007.

Her sculptures for the series entitled Maverick are a study on taxidermy, life, death, and the crucifixion of nature. Using rawhide leather these lifelike animal busts question our perception.

Manju Shandler received a Bachelor of Arts from Bennington College in 1995. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, 2 daughters, and their dog Luther.
Shandler lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, 2 daughters, and their dog Luther.