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Philadelphia-born artist Devan Shimoyama brings his artwork close to home with his solo regional debut exhibit, “SHIFT,” at Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum, on view through March 21. This newest body of work ruminates on identity, transformation and Black queerness through a reimagining of the Tarot deck primary cards.

Born and raised in northeast Philadelphia, Shimoyama began exploring his artistic side in grade school, dabbling with music in his school’s orchestra. But his creative aptitude shone when he turned to drawing, which his mother and grandmother encouraged by putting him in weekend and summer classes.

Shimoyama started at Penn State with a focus on life sciences, with a trajectory toward pre-med, but he eventually changed to art. Before getting to the university, he hadn’t considered art as a career path. Growing up, there weren’t any examples of full-time professional artists in his life, so it didn’t seem possible.

“I wasn’t in New York, seeing art galleries and contemporary artists working in that capacity very much, so I really hadn’t had the vision for it before I got to school,” he said.

After changing his major, he began to see other Black artists in the profession. Artists like Wangechi Mutu and Mikalene Thomas inspired Shimoyama to explore different modes of artistic expression.

He graduated from Penn State in 2011 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting and from Yale University School of Art in 2014 with a Master of Fine Arts in painting and printmaking. Shimoyama’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States.

After graduate school, Shimoyama took a visiting assistant professor position at Carnegie Mellon University that later became tenured. He was also a practicing artist for nine years. He said both occupations complemented each other quite well.

“I was able to bring the kind of professional art world experience into the classroom, and then also be supported … financially … by the institution,” he said.

Shimoyama says he is thankful for the reciprocal learning he experienced in the classroom from his students and his colleagues.

Although he left Carnegie Mellon in 2023, he remained in Pittsburgh.

Since his debut at the Andy Warhol Museum in 2018, Shimoyama has exhibited his art around the country.

The paintings on display in “SHIFT” are meant to reflect on the human desire to present a “perfect version” of ourselves, while exploring the possible pathways through troubling times that forms of mysticism, such as Tarot reading, can present to us.

The exhibit will also present a showcase called “Extension of the Classroom,” featuring the work of students from a painting class at Rowan University that Shimoyama guided personally.

Although his work has traveled the world, this will be the first time it will be shown so close to his home city. He said he is looking forward to the new work being more accessible to his friends and family, and he wants them to see where his artistic journey has taken him.

Shimoyama is currently working on continuing the series, featuring more of his Major Arcana Tarot card illustrations, which will appear in a group exhibit at the Palm Springs Art Museum later this year.

“SHIFT” will be on display at Rowan University through March 21. The exhibit is free and open to the public.