Select Works
Every Woman Biennial
New York, Los Angeles, London
2014-Present
Finley's ethos is manifested most in one of her most ambitious projects, the Every Women Biennial—formerly the Whitney Houston Biennial. From 2014 to present, she exhibited over 1,200 female-identifying and non-binary artists in New York, Los Angeles, and London. The result was an interdisciplinary explosion of art hung salon style. By presenting such a rich variety—from paintings to performances, sculptures and flash mobs—the Every Women Biennial is a social practice artwork in itself.
In an exceptionally radical act for such a grand-scale exhibition, not a single artist who submitted work was turned away—no one was “accepted” or “rejected,” thereby disrupting the market-driven exclusivity now customary for contemporary art institutions. Finley approached her time as the director of the La MaMa Galleria similarly. She focused on curating underrepresented, women, nonbinary, and queer artists to promote an intergenerational dialogue.
Wallpapered Dumpsters
Rome, New York City, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Paris, Dublin, Vienna, Berlin
2006-present
Wallpapered Dumpsters transform environmental activism into unexpected beauty. This project is in inquiry into urban waste, free art, and notions of femininity, beauty and domesticity. Inspired by free and accessible art the artist states, IF WE SEE DUMPSTERS AS ART, WE HAVE RAISED CONSCIOUSNESS. WE CAN DO ANYTHING.”
Women Life Freedom
New York City
2022
On a summer day in 2023, a group of women gathered on zoom to discuss feminist solutions to the global ills of patriarchy. This zoom became a town hall where women voiced a wide range of issues and personal experiences—from the Dobbs decision to the recent deaths of activists in Iran. Outrage was palpable. Justice was the shared desire of all the women involved, despite their diverse causes and backgrounds. The artist C. Finley, present at the gathering, decided to respond visually to the concerns of the women. She wanted to do something––to use art to spur action, healing, and generative energy. Known for her radiant, incandescent paintings and public works, she presented a sketch to the group—an image of the scales of justice in vibrant hues.
The mural Women Life Freedom was the outcome in direct response to this conversation. Women Life Freedom serves as a panacea, a gathering point, and collaborative force. It depicts a formidable central goddess figure, representing justice, emblazoned with the symbol of the sun, facing forward and opening her arms to all. A galactic blue expanse frames the rendered scales, flanking the divine feminine icon, balanced by a vibratory merging of the sun and the moon. The mural was realized as part of an event hosted by La MaMa Galleria in which women came together, performed, wept, wailed, shared their struggles, and decried the obstacles and enemies to freedom and bodily autonomy. A raw honesty and radical artmaking process emerged from this strong outpouring of emotion. Finley left the blue of the mural as a negative space to be filled with "story stars" created by the gathered women on which they expressed messages of hope, resilience, and commemorated activists murdered during protests. The entire group followed a procession to the mural where the stars were hung to create constellations of celestial messages for the public to witness and to exist alongside.
Finite & Infinite Games
New York City
2010
Finite and Infinite Games is an art collaborative, between a Choreographer, Film Maker, Visual Artist, and Fashion Designer. This cross-pollination of contemporary art is a video art movement project. Games, based loosely on a philosophical text by James Carse, is choreographed for ten dancers and seeks to explore the individual's quest to find purpose in life through the act of creation within community. The film was shot at Judson Church, a beautiful space with an illustrious dance history.
The Artistic Director and Choreographer Katherine Helen Fisher, inspired by the work she’s performed of established choreographers, Lucinda Childs, Mark Morris, Moses Pendelton, and others, choreographed nine pure movement performances. C. Finley, created a massive (48'x12') relentless and non-repetitive geometric backdrop in front of which the choreography will be staged. The costumes, designed by fashion designer Gai Mattiolo reinforce the beauty of the movement. The Director RJ Muna, a master of light, shot for three days in Judson. Poet Michael Robinson, the force behind thisiswater Productions, has generously donated for this project to be realized.
The entire production is a celebration of collaboration, color and variety---a riot of pure movement. The musical selections (Reich, Nyman, Glass, among others) feature the singular voice of the saxophone intended to represent the human voice of expression. This project draws from art history's famous vanguard of collaborative artists working within the performing arts, from Digalieve, Massine and Fokine to Childs, Glass, Wilson and Cunningham.
FURNISH
Basel, New York, Los Angeles
2010-2013
Her performance Furnish, Finley used public spaces in Basel, Venice Beach, Vienna, and in New York City where she was accompanied by musicians and dancers, to stage a brief intervention, parading furniture that the artist upcycled into sculpture by customizing it with her distinctive designs. Once the performance ended, she encouraged viewers to take the transformed objects home—artwork free of charge.
ALMOST CORNER BOOKSHOP
Rome
2023
A community mural celebrating the life of Dermot O’Connell. Shop rebrand with logo, stamp and bookmark in collaboration with Ashley Edes.