Sean Shanahan

Seán Shanahan was born in Dublin in 1960 and attended the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Chelsea, London and the Croydon College of Art and Design, where he studied painting and art history. At the age of 22 he moved to Milan, where he held his first solo exhibition in Luigi De Ambrogi’s gallery. In 1986 he won a scholarship to the Fundación Olivar de Castillejo in Madrid and between 1986 and 1990 he lived and worked between Cologne and New York.
His creative process rejects any kind of narrative: form and colour are the means of painting and his only interest. From the very beginning of his research he turned towards still life, investigating its ability to capture the non-dynamic moment of flow, the moment of stasis that fixes actions, gestures, emotions. This propensity is translated into a deep reflection on colour and an intervention on wooden surfaces.
In 1990, Shanahan moved to Italy and shortly afterwards made the crucial choice of abandoning acrylic in favour of oil, which allows a more fluid and transparent drafting and enables an immediate perception of the final rendering. In 1994, in an exhibition at the Orchard Gallery in Derry, he presented Untitled, an oil on MDF, in which repetitions and reworkings of colour are still visible and argue the artist’s painting process. This work marks the overcoming of the evidence of this process on the surface; in subsequent works, the vertical and horizontal backgrounds in several colours are gradually replaced by monochrome painting, which becomes a definitive choice for Shanahan, such as that of adopting MDF as a support, an industrial material that absorbs colour and is worked with bevels along the edges, emphasising the corporeity of the paintings.
In 1997, he moved to Montevecchia, where he set up his studio and devoted himself to the use of a single colour, spread evenly and uniformly, and to simple formal constructions defined by a tapering that restores three-dimensionality. The direction Shanahan took in these years met with the interest of Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, who began to systematically collect his works in 2000. Between 2010 and 2016 he took part in important group exhibitions with the Panza Collection: in 2010 State of Mind. Minimal Art at the Lucca Center of Contemporary Art, and in 2015 La percezione del Futuro. The Panza Collection in Perugia at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria.
His numerous solo and group exhibitions include Sudden Time (2021) at Villa Panza, Varese, Singular Episodic (2020) at Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Lissone, Body of Light (2018) at Luca Tommasi Arte Contemporanea in Milan, Seven Last Words (2016) at Galleria San Fedele in Milan, Unique Act (2008) at The Hugh Lane in Dublin.

EDUCATION

1986        Olivar Castillego Foundation, Madrid

1979        Croydon College of Art & Design, London

1978        Heatherly School of Fine Art, Chelsea, London

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2018        Openness, Nam Project, Milan, Italy

                  Body of Light, Luca Tommasi Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy

2017        Seven last Words, Galleria San Fedele, Milan, Italy

2011        Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

                  Golden Bough, House of Art Budwies, Czech Republic

2010        Villa Mondolfo, Mondolfo, Italy

2007        Kunst-Station, Sankt Peter Koln (solo)

2005        Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (solo)

2003        Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam (solo)

                  ‘Trilogia del colore’, Galleria Rubin, Milan

                  ‘Seeing Red’, Hunter College, New York

                  “Triangolino”, Arts centre Riverbank, Newbridge

                  Sleeper, Edinburgh (solo)

                  Gallerie S65, Aalst (solo)

                  “Colour Based Painting, Bergner + Job Galerie, Mainz

                  “Colour Chart” Ormaeu Baths, Belfast

2002        Villa Pomini, Castellanza (solo)

                  Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin (solo)

                  “Sight Specific”, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Kilkenny

                  “Sei”, Galleria Corraini, Mantova

                  Gallerie S65, Cologne

                  “Astrazione Zero”, Spazio O, Milan

                  “No Object, No Subject, No Matter…” Irish Museum of Modern Art Dublin

                  “Morandi e I Morandiani”, Cascina Roma, San Donaya Milanese

                  “Colour-A Life Of It’s Own”, Mucsarnok, Kunsthalle, Budapest

                  Palazzo Piacentini, San Benedetto del Tronto

2001        “Blue” Kerlin Gallery (solo)

2000        Fondazione Scarampi, San Giorgio Scarampi (solo)
‘Shifting Ground’, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Galleria Grossetti, Milan.
“Antonio Scaccabarozzi, Stephanè Bordarier and Seán Shanahan” Le 19, Centre
Regional d’Art contemporian, Montbéliard.
“10 Drawings”, Copyright Tutti, Verduno. (solo)

1999    Kerlin Gallery, Dublin. (solo)
Galerie Agnes b du Jour, Paris.
“…Die Farbe (Rot) hat mich”, Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany

1998    Slewe Galerie, Amsterdam. (solo)
Peter Davis,Callum Innes and Seán Shanahan, Slewe Galerie,Amsterdam.
Pallazzo Comunale di Merate. (solo)
A collection in the Making, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.
Kerlin Gallery, Dublin.
Baukunst, Cologne. (solo)
Galleria Grossetti, Milan. (solo)
L’abstraction & ses territoires, Le 19, Centre Regional d’Art contemporian, Montbéliard.
EV+A, Limerick City Art Gallery, Limerick

1997    Kerlin Gallery, Dublin. (solo)
Extra Moenia, (with Roberto Caracciolo), Todi. (solo)
Residue, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin.
Edition X, Cologne (solo)

1996    Galerie M Jordan b.Devarriuex, Paris. (solo)
Consistenza della pittura, Premio Micheti, Fonazione F.P. Michetti, Trancavilla al Mare.
Invitational, Praler Insel, Munich.
Mostra d’Adda, Castello di Corneliano Bertario.
L’Imaginaire Irlandais, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris.
150 years of Heatherleys School of Fine Art, The Mall Gallery, London.
L’inquieto geometrico, Studio Carlo Grossetti, Milan.

1995    Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam. (solo)
Kerlin Gallery, Dublin. (solo)
Orchard Gallery, Derry. (solo)

1994    Turchetto-Plurima, Udine. (solo)
Unveiled, Cornerhouse, Manchester.

1993    Kerlin Gallery, Dublin. (solo)
A Selection from the Contemporary Arts Society Collection.

1992    Studio Carlo Grossetti, Milan (solo)

1991    Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (solo)

            Oggi – Today, Studio Carlo Grossetti, Milan

1990    Studio Carlo Grossetti, Milan (solo)

            Geert Schriever, Amsterdam (solo)

1989    Galerie Jurka, Amsterdam (solo)

1987    Hillman Holland Fine Arts, Atlanta, USA (solo)

            Permiable del gesto, curated by Andre Garcia Cubo, Schemata. Riverside Studios, London

1986    Galerie T’Venster, Rotterdam (solo)

            Galerie Jurka, Amsterdam (solo)

            Zomertentoonstelling, Den Helder, Holland

            Kunst, RAI, Amsterdam

            Zones, Aorta, Amsterdam

1985    Galerie Jurka, Amsterdam (solo)

1984    Luigi Deambrogi, Milan (solo)

            Five Painters, RIverside Studios, London

1983    Luigi Deambrogi, Milan (solo)

1982    Early Works, Edinburgh Festival, Scotland

IMMA | Irish Museum of Modern Art

See Inside Artist Sean Shanahan and Furniture Designer Dalila Formentini’s Colourful Villa Near Lake Como

2023
Sean Shanahan: New Grass
Space in the works of Sean Shanahan
Aspire design and home Spring 2023 Chicago

2021    Chiara Dynys & Sean Shanahan Sudden Time

2005  Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, 3rd March
           Cristin Leach, The Sunday Times, 27th February
           Jacqui McIntosh, Irish Examiner, 9th March

2004    “Kunst der Moderne. Kunst der Gegenwart. “,Anne-Marie Bonnet, Deubner Verlag fur  Kunst, Theorie & Praxis.

2003  ‘Colour Chart’, Aidan Dunne, The Ticket – The Irish Times, 30th October
           ‘Seán Shanahan – Dublin City, The Hugh Lane’ by Caoimh Mac Giolla
           “Malerei der Gegenwart”, Anne-Marie Bonnet, Kunsthistorische Arbeitsblätter, Feb.
           “Seeing Red”, Michael Fehr, exhibition catalogue, Hunter College, New York, April.
           Sean Shanahan , Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith, Artforum, Summer
           “Trilogia di Colore”, Angela Madesani, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Rubin, Milan

2002    ‘Seán Shanahan, Eclissi’, catalogue Villa Pomini, Castellanza, text by Radu Luino
           ‘Seán Shanahan, Vidar’, catalogue Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin, texts by Mel Gooding, Jens Peter Koerver and Barbara Dawson
           Marianne Hartigan, The Sunday Tribune, September 29
           Medb Ruane, The Sunday Times, September 29
           Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, September 27
           Ambrose Clancy, The Washington Post, January 20
           “The Rowan collection», exhibition catalogue, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Feb.
           “Astrazione Zero”, Angela Madesani, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Feb.

2001    Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, Thursday 8th November
           “Apriamo la gabbia dell’Astrazione! Un panorama della giovani pittura astratta in Italia”.Angela Madesani, Ipsofacto, Nov.
           “Pigments of their imagination», Medb Ruane, Sunday Tribune, 11th Nov.
           “A painters building blocks», Aidan Dunne, Irish Times, 10. Nov.

2000    “Of Painting today in general and its raison d’etre: Stephane, Bordarier, Antonio Scaccabarozzi and Seán Shanahan.”
           Mel Gooding, catalogue, “Materiau: Coloure”, Montbeliard, Sept.
           “Matériau: Couleur”, Les Cahiers, Le 19, Montbeliard. Oct.
           “La couleur comme preoccupation essentielle” Vu du Doubs, Sept.
           Trois pour la couleur”, Alain Roy, Montbeliard Le Pays, 22 Sept.
           “…Die Farbe (Rot) hat mich”, Michael Fehr,”Seán Shanahan: Farbe als Palimpsest “,
           Anne-Marie Bonnet, catalogue, Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, der Stadt Hagen, Nov.2000
           “Conversazione con quattro quadri e loro autore, Seán Shanahan,”Eugenio Alberti Schatz,catalogue,”Marrano”, Fondazione , Scarampi, Nov.
           “Taglie di Colore, Seán Shanahan a Scarampi”, Mauro Querci, Gulliver, Nov.
           MacGiolla Leith, catalogue, Irish Museum of Modern Art.Nov.

1999    The Whoseday Book, Millennium Fundraising partner to The Irish Hospice foundation, Mar.
           Minimalism and Volcanoes, Aiden Dunne,Irish Times,31.Mar.
           Seán Shanahan, Marianne Hartigan,The Sunday Tribune,04.Apr.
           Im Rausch der Sinne”, Anne-Marie Bonnet, Kunst zwischen Animation und Askese”, Hrsg.v.Konrad Paul Liessmann (=Philosophicum Lech, Bd. 2), Vienna, (Zolnay Verlag), p.200 -203

1998    Monochroom met bloedend vlak,Erik Hagort,de Volkskrant, 08.April
           The breath of space and the pace of time, Anne-Marie Bonnet,Baukunst catalogue, April.
           Anne Erfle talks to Seán Shanahan, Baukunst catalogue, April.
           Wenn Künstler die Bildfläche öffnen,Heidrum Wirth, Köln Rundscau, 24.April.
           Einfache Geometrie: Baukunst zeigt Shanahan, E.Roos,Kölner Stadt Anzeiger, 15.May.
           Summer Group Show, Sunday Times, 02 Aug, Marian Lovett.
           L’abstraction & ses territoires, Philippe Cyroulnik, September, p.102-103.
           Seán Shanahan,Galleria Grossetti, catalogue, October.
           Seán Shanahan, Comune di Merate, catalogue, November.
           Shanahan, dieci finestre sul colore, Arte, Dec.

1997  Residue, catalogue, John Hutchinson, August.
           Residue, review by Brian Fallon, Irish Times, August.
           Confessions of a Gallery Curator, Aidan Dunne, Sunday Tribune, August.
           Modern Art in Ireland, Dorothy Walker,Lilliput press, p.219

1996    From Nature, (Poetry) to (Multi) Culture, catalogue for l’Imaginaire Irlandais, Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith.
           Une Saison Irlandaise, Paul Ardenne, Art Press, June.
           16 Artistes Irlandais, L’Imaginaire Irlandais catalogue, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, April.

1995    Optical Consciousness, Rutger Pontzen, Metropolis M, no 4.
           Optical Consciousness, catalogue, Willen Sanders, Stelling/Copyright Tutti, May.
           Seán Shanahan, Marion Lovett, Circa, Summer edition.
           Seán Shanahan at the Kerlin, Luke Clancy, Irish Times, April.
           A suite in three movements for Seán Shanahan, catalogue, Mel Gooding, Orchard/Kerlin, April.
           Werk van Shanahan ontstijgt rigiditiet, Robbert Roos, Trouw, February.

1994    Sean Shanahan, Sabrina Zannier, Flash Art, January

1993    Sean Shanahan, Diego Collovini, Titolo, December Festa Italiana, Aiden Dunne, Sunday Tribune, April

            Sean Shanahan at the Kerlin, Brian Fallon, Irish Times, April

1992    Catalogue, Caoimhin MacGiolla Leith, Studio Carlo Grossetti, November

            From Nature (Poetry) to (Multi-) Culture catalogue, Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith

1991    Sean Shanahan at the Kerlin, Brian Fallon, Irish Times, September

1990    de cirkel en het vierkant, Eddy van der Meer, Alert, December

1989    Sean Shanahan, Rob Smolders, NRC Handlesblad, September

1987    Tussenblik, Mathilde Roskam. Catalogue Het

            Kruithuis, S’Hertogenbosch

            Schemata, Lynne Cooke, Artscribe, May

            Schemata, Greg Hilty catalogue Riverside Studios, London, April

            Schemata, Stuart Morgan, Art Forum, May

            Schemata, Stuart Morgan, catalogue Riverside Studios, London, April