Shaun O'Dell

Shaun O'Dell is a painter, illustrator, musician, and videographer who explores the intertwining of the human and natural orders. The symbolic lexicon in his work conveys an autobiographical mapping of mythic narratives about humans, nature, time, and the development of cultural and nationalistic ideologies. He examines how America's long-time addiction to the technological and ideological suppression of wilderness has contributed to the evolution of American myth, psyche, and tyranny.

Shaun O’Dell was born in Beeville, Texas and was raised in California. He received his MFA from Stanford University in 2004. His work has been exhibited widely in the US, and internationally. He has won numerous awards and honors including the Tournesol Award (2009, Headlands Center for the Arts), Diebenkorn Teaching Fellowship (2006, SF Art Institute), and the Artadia Award (2005, San Francisco). His work is included in a number of permanent collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Berkeley Art Museum.

Courtesy of Headlands Center for the Arts