Biography (brief overview)
Shannon Mcconnell is an artist and musician based in Seattle, Wa, USA. Influenced by a garagepunk aesthetic with lingering pop/sci-fi undergrowth and modern-social psychosis, his abstract figurative scenes integrate elements of arbitrary transfiguration, irreverent compositions, motion/transformation, socio-political overtones, sound (noise/music), and northwestern environmental imagery. His drawings and paintings have been exhibited at various galleries and other locations, while doing commissioned portraits and murals. He attended the University of Washington, Skidmore College of the Arts (New York), North Seattle Community College, Seattle Central Community College, and The Art Institute of Seattle. He was a founding member of the legendary garage pop/punk band "The Fall-Outs", the messthetic/pop sound of "The Pulses", performed with Billy Childish, "The Intelligence", and other music projects.
"Shannon Mcconnell's energetic painted figuration has one foot in the late 19th century and the other in the future. Practical yet skeptical and Bohemian, slightly morbid yet still open and optimistic, the figure is broken and revealed, dissembled and reordered; these twisted and open figures retain, in their momentary pain and confusion, a dignity and purpose: the experience of living in human flesh and bone." - Chris Ashley artist/curator SomeWalls, Oakland, Ca. Fall/2011
"...his portraits and landscapes combine elements of arbitrary transfiguration with a garage punk aesthetic nod to the Northwest School. Applications of thin glazes over an improvised monoprint on paper or canvas produce uncommon vistas into a somewhat common land. These locations suggest desolate sci-fi environments filled with the diffused light characteristic of the Skagit Valley..." - Robert Yoder, artist/curator, Season, Seattle, Wa. Fall/2011
CV - Curriculum Vitae
Solo Exhibitions
2010 - Galerie Blacklist, Prague, Czech Republic - "Proposed Land-Use Action"
2009 - Snoose Part Dieu Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - "Media-Mutations"
2008 - JiveTime Records/Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - "Seeing Sound / Hearing Color"
2007 - BaBa Louise Gallery/Salon, Seattle, Wa. - "recent paintings"
2006 - BAZR Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - "Urban Curiosities" selected works
2003 - Rosebud Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - selected works
2002 - Capitol Hill Internet Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - selected works
2002 - Rebar Gallery/Nightclub, Seattle, Wa. - "new paintings & monoprints"
2002 - Elliot Bay Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - selected works
2001 - Crocodile Cafe Gallery/Nightclub, Seattle, Wa. - selected works
2000 - The Pearl Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - "Troubled Walls" (selected works)
Group Shows
2011 - Aqua 11/ArtBasel, Miami Beach, Fl. - December 1-4
2011 - Season, Seattle, Wa. "Forever and Never, One More Time" - October through December
2011 - The Fair | International Contemporary Art, Vancouver, BC. - June 2-5
2011 - Gallery (206), Seattle, Wa. - June show
2007 - Wall of Sound Music/Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - "Local 8" group show
2005 - D'Adamo/Woltz Gallery, Seattle, Wa. - "January group show", selected paintings
2004 - M:Pulse Gallery/Boutique, Seattle, Wa. - "Neighbor Neighbor" group show, selected works
1992 - Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY. - "Current Studies" group show, selected drawings
1987 - Lincoln Arts Center, Seattle, Wa. - "Seattle Arts-Underground" group show, selected works
1983 - Washington State School District "Art Competition", Olympia, Wa.
1983 - Edmonds Arts Festival, Edmonds, Wa.
1982 - Washington State School District "Art Competition", Olympia, Wa.
1982 - Edmonds Arts Festival, Edmonds, Wa.
1981 - Mukilteo Art Fair Contest, Mukilteo, Wa.
1981 - Edmonds Arts Festival, Edmonds, Wa.
Education
Skidmore College of the Arts, New York 1991-1992
University of Washington / ASUW College 1986-1988
Art Institute of Seattle 1993-1995
Seattle Central Community College 1990/1996/2002
North Seattle Community College 1983-1984
Collections
Jan Kraus, Prague, Czech Republic
Marie Adamcova, Prague, Czech Republic
Berkely Parks, Seattle, Wa.
Jane Hedreen, Seattle, Wa.
Steven LaRose, Ashland, Ore.
Hugo and Martha Taylor, Seattle, Wa.
Robert Yoder, Seattle, Wa.
Steve & Camille Burton, Kenmore, Wa.
David Day, Seattle, Wa.
Vivienne Collins, Durham, NC.
Andrew Larson, Seattle, Wa.
Judy Norleen-Wilson, Denver, Co.
Ellen Oliver, Seattle,Wa.
Daniel Wood, San Francisco, CA.
Oleg Botamanenko, Bellevue, Wa.
Kimra Milner, Phoenix, AZ.
Steven & Kristen Roy, Lynnwood, Wa.
Pauline and Peter Bradshaw, Seattle, Wa.
Marianne and Richard Nelsen, Lynnwood, Wa.
Dennis and Marie McConnell, Sterling, Ak.
The Henry M. Jackson estate, Olympia, Wa.
Commissions
Misc Portraits & Murals 1996-2011
Various independent record labels, music groups, venues and organizations:
(posters, cover art, t-shirt designs, flyers, misc.graphics) 1985-2004
Grants/Awards/Honors
Recipient of the Philanthropic and Education Society, F.U. of P.E.O. Scholarship for Art - 1983
Washington State School District Art Competition First Place Winner - 1983
Meadowdale High School Art Department Award - 1983
Edmonds Arts Festival Finalist - 1982/1983
9thAnnual Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Art Award Winner - 1982
(my painting was in the collection of Washington Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson,
and was displayed at the "Imagination Celebration", Seattle Center - 1982,
and at the Western Washington Art Fair - 1982)
Washington State School District Art Competition Finalist – 1981/1982
Art Related Occupations
Dedo West (J.A. Dedo Co.) - portrait artist, ceramic memorial plaques - 1995-1998
Artsign/Artco Sign Co. - graphic design, sign fabrication, construction, installation, maintenance - 2000-2008
Various independent venues, organizations, record labels, and music groups - graphic design, posters, cover art, t-shirt designs, flyers, misc.graphics - 1985-2010
Music Profession
The Fall-Outs - 1981-1996 / 3 albums, 4 singles
The Pulses - 1999-2005 / 3 albums (BBC airplay, "John Peel Show")
Other related projects; The Intelligence, Night Kings, Invisible Men, El Vez,
Milkduds, The Outcasts, The Seperates, and misc studio recordings - 1985-2010