Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Discovering Sean Mahan

While catching up on friends' Flickr photos I came across Mike Burnett's new design, "Average Joe Schmoe", wooden DIY figures that are being produced by Bigshot Toyworks. Looks like a traveling custom show is coming up in November starting at Shoparooni Annex Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio.

The piece shown on the postcard for the show specifically caught my attention, it's by Jacksonville, Florida artist Sean Mahan. Sean's site doesn't reveal too much about him, but I did manage to learn that he had a show back in September at Brooklyn Collective in New York and that there is an interview with him in Give Me Back magazine, I'll keep a lookout.



His work is so peaceful and elegant. He works on luan wood with graphite and washes of acrylic. Young people seem to be his favorite subject matter and I love the simple colors and stylized lines of his juxtaposed flat and 3-dimenensional work. I am always a sucker for exposed wood and he does a fine job of letting nature shine through his work.



I am particularly smitten with the painting "Sewing" (shown above). The sudden use of bright dramatic patterns is wonderful! I hope to see more work by this Savannah College of Art & Design graduate and maybe one day have an opportunity to work with him. :)

Also interesting to note, Sean is a musician and heads his own band(s), "Verde/Kids on Bikes" and multiple other music ventures. Rock on Sean! Rock on. (cheesy I know, but I couldn't resist.)

1 comment:

Steve Brown said...

Thanks so much for the great write-up! Sean is a tremendous talent, and it's been great to re-connect with him after all these years. He's one of the few people I have fond memories of from high school, and being able to work with him over a decade later has been stellar! His work really is wonderful, and his piece for our Natural Resources show is simply beautiful.

Thanks again!