Stephen Shanabrook
Versed in a variety of media, American artist Stephen Shanabrook works in a disparity, a space of unexpected associations, altered perception and exsquisite entropy. In all his undertakings, there is the process of evisceration and a search within process for a different aspect of beauty. Abstracted upon the experience of daily reality, his inveterate and mysterious works leave one with an intensely evocative, sometimes disquieting, yet ultimately peaceful sensibility.
In 1995, Shanabrook began casting chocolate in the wounds of dead bodies from morgues in Russia and North America. The son of an obstetrician and a coroner, the artist worked at a chocolate factory as a child. Melding seemingly oppositional aspects of his past experiences together, Shanabrook conceptualized death in a uniquely beautiful and grotesque way, giving disturbing form to an otherwise comforting and joyful material.
Shanabrook has held solo exhibitions at the City Museum of Ljubljana, Orel Art in Paris, Charlotte Moser Gallery in Geneva, Daneyul Mahmood Gallery in New York, Musee d’art et d’histoire in Neuchatel, Switzerland, among others. Shanabrook has exhibited his work in Tasmania, Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Moscow, Belgium, Berlin, Rotterdam, San Francisco, New York, among many other global cities. He often collaborates with artist Veronica Georgieva.
Courtesy …
Versed in a variety of media, American artist Stephen Shanabrook works in a disparity, a space of unexpected associations, altered perception and exsquisite entropy. In all his undertakings, there is the process of evisceration and a search within process for a different aspect of beauty. Abstracted upon the experience of daily reality, his inveterate and mysterious works leave one with an intensely evocative, sometimes disquieting, yet ultimately peaceful sensibility.
In 1995, Shanabrook began casting chocolate in the wounds of dead bodies from morgues in Russia and North America. The son of an obstetrician and a coroner, the artist worked at a chocolate factory as a child. Melding seemingly oppositional aspects of his past experiences together, Shanabrook conceptualized death in a uniquely beautiful and grotesque way, giving disturbing form to an otherwise comforting and joyful material.
Shanabrook has held solo exhibitions at the City Museum of Ljubljana, Orel Art in Paris, Charlotte Moser Gallery in Geneva, Daneyul Mahmood Gallery in New York, Musee d’art et d’histoire in Neuchatel, Switzerland, among others. Shanabrook has exhibited his work in Tasmania, Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Moscow, Belgium, Berlin, Rotterdam, San Francisco, New York, among many other global cities. He often collaborates with artist Veronica Georgieva.
Courtesy of the artist
MONA, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania
Damien Hirst’s “ Murder Me” collection, London
Trust for Mutual Understandings, New York
Rabus Collection, Neuchatel, Belguim
The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland
Mars Contemporary Art Center, Moscow, Russia
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, USA
Private Collections in Europe, USA, Russia and Australia
Aeroplastics, Brussels, BE
