Risa Puno is a sculpture and installation artist who uses interactivity and play to understand how we relate to one another. Transforming recognizable pastimes and games into metaphors for complex social interactions, Puno creates unexpected points of access that allow people to tap into feelings of nostalgia, desire, competition, comfort, or frustration.
Born and raised in Louisville, KY. Based in Brooklyn, NY.
Risa Puno is a sculpture and installation artist who uses interactivity and play to understand how we relate to one another. Often working with the public, Puno has completed art commissions for the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston (2018); NYC Department of Transportation (2013–2014), and an Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant at Rufus King Park in Queens. In 2019, Puno created the acclaimed interactive public art installation The Privilege of Escape as the winning artist of the inaugural Creative Time Open Call, New York. Puno has participated in group exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum (2014), Franconia Sculpture Park, MN (2014); El Museo del Barrio, New York (2013); The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (2012); The Queens Museum of Art (2010); Galerie Stefan Röpke, Cologne (2010); MMX Open Art Venue, Berlin (2010); and Socrates Sculpture Park, NY (2009). Puno’s work has been covered by The New Yorker, NPR, Hyperallergic, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. She studied art and medicine at Brown University and earned her MFA from New York University.
