Shannon Purcell is an Art of Austin artist! Read his interview to get to know more about the him and his work.
Shannon Purcell
AoA – How long have you been an Austin based artist and how did you find your way here?
Shannon – I have been living and working in Austin since 2017. I had been living in Western Massachusetts, where I am from, for a long time and was at a crossroads so I decided to give Austin a try.
AoA – When did you realize that you were an artist?
Shannon – I guess I have always felt like an artist. From the moment I started drawing and painting as a child I felt that this was the thing that I loved doing most, and that I felt the most myself while doing. When I reached my early teens I never even considered a path other than art.
AoA – Can you speak to your art training?
Shannon – I studied fine arts and painting at MassArt in Boston and apprenticed and studied with the painter David Addison Small. He had studied classical painting techniques in Europe with Ernst Fuchs and he taught me the Flemish egg tempera/oil emulsion technique. I love classic Flemish painting and once I learned these techniques I spent the next few tears in Boston practicing them. Most of my other direct oil painting technique I learned from doing, talking to other painters and observing.
AoA – Where do you find inspiration?
Shannon – I feel like I find inspiration everywhere. I read a lot and watch a lot of old films and am always making connections and taking notes, letting different threads tangle and finding new places these chance encounters lead. Biographies, novels, old movies, pieces of music, bits of popular culture all combine with what I’m feeling at the time into different ideas. I love chance encounters and try to be as receptive as possible. Also, the quality of the light and the colors here in Texas have influenced my work and shifted my palette.
AoA – What is your work concerned with?
Shannon – I mostly explore and deconstruct portraiture. My work is about identity and the various constructs our culture projects onto it, as well as the masks we use to conceal ourselves. I try to find the intangible things that make a person who they are, whether through finding small details to focus on, something emotional like color and texture or through trying to make a more complex psychological portrait with all its mystery.
Through obfuscating the figure with shadows and light and projecting different cultural influences onto it, I seek to show the complexities of the subject’s inner life and the forces that shaped them to find the fuller biography underneath. I generally prefer direct eye contact to connect with the subject and truly see them. I view portraiture as a type of biography and love getting to know my subjects through careful and deliberate observation. Using classical techniques in oil paint with a contemporary approach and visual references to classic film, art history, literature and other popular culture, my work explores the relationship between ourselves and the authentic and seeks to convey the mysteries and truth behind the noise.
AoA – We noticed that you do a lot of self portraits. Is there something behind that?
Shannon – It’s funny, before sheltering indoors during the pandemic I had maybe done three self portraits total. With a lack of options for models, I started painting myself. After a few of those, I thought, “ how do I paint those invisible things that I feel are projected all over me? All the history, experiences and cultural influences?” So I started projecting images onto myself which I felt were a truer self portrait in many ways. And now I’ve brought that idea into my portrait work.
AoA – What are your preferred medium(s)?
Shannon – I paint in oils on wood panel and linen. I also love drawing and watercolors.
AoA – Can you talk a little about your creative processes?
Shannon – I tend to move pretty fast creatively. The oil painting process itself is slow so I like to keep the idea process as spontaneous and improvisatory as possible. I keep the time between conception and execution pretty short so I can capture the essence of all those threads that I have kept myself receptive to. I find it best to trust your instinct and trust the ideas. If I stay in the receptive creative space in my mind and follow the threads where they lead it usually brings me to the most interesting, unexpected places.
AoA – Do you have any feelings towards Digital Art versus traditional mediums?
Shannon – Other than not having much experience making digital art I don’t have strong opinions about it. I tend to gravitate towards what I do, which is traditional painting, but it is all about the feeling and the ideas. If those are there, I don’t really consider the medium as much.
AoA – Who are some artists that you look to?
Shannon – I don’t really look to specific artists as much as I used to. I find myself picking bits and pieces that inspire me from many different artists. During the past year I have been reading long biographies of artists and have found that learning the longer scope of their lives and their artistic processes has influenced me. I like old Hollywood photographers and cinematographers very much. The Surrealists. French Academic painting. I feel like I have new art obsessions all the time.
AoA – Big question. What do you feel the role of art is in the world?
Shannon – As a figurative painter, my interest is in the human experience. I don’t really consider myself a social artist, but I hope my work reflects something of what it’s like to be a person at this particular moment. I can only speak for my art’s role, and that for me is to provide a window into the beauty and mystery that exists in the human experience. To slow us down a little and take the time to truly observe, feel and empathize. I think it’s important right now to really see other peoples lives and experiences and how complex and mysterious we all are beneath the surface.
AoA – What else do you enjoy besides making art?
Shannon – I also write and record music in my spare time as Albion Moonlight. I’ve always written songs and poetry and find it helpful to have a different way to express myself and explore themes from a different angle. To me they complement each other and I get a lot of ideas for painting from my writing as it is for me a more direct and improvisational approach than my visual work. I released two albums in 2020 and am currently working on a third. I also love reading and watching old movies and hanging out with my cat, Petunia.
AoA – Where can we find your work? Do you have any shows planned for the future?
Shannon – You can find my work on my website, www.shannonpurcellart.com and on my instagram @shannonpurcellart. I will be showing during EAST in the “Living Mirrors” group show at Moontower Cider Co. November 6, 2021 – December 4, 2021 and in “We Speak for the Trees” at TreeGarden November 13 – December 11, 2021.
AoA – Any final advice for all the artists reading out there?
Shannon – Just keep working. I feel like for me, the ideas come from the work. So just keep going, don’t get bogged down overthinking it. Just keep making the work that moves you and that you want to see in the world.
Connect with Shannon!