Local Art

Thanks to Chad Okrusch and our Visual Communications class, I was able to find out about an awesome local artist, Shawn Crowe. He gave a very interesting presentation to our class about his artistic process and showed us several examples of his work. I was very impressed by his work, much of it abstract with vibrant colors. His latest series "Modern Myth", deals with retelling some classic Greek mythology. We were shown Athena, The Graces, Persephone and other classic Greek gods in some interesting poses and surrounded by beautiful colors. I personally enjoyed almost every painting that he showed us, each one rich with detail and symbolism. Even though I immediately felt the aesthetic beauty of the pieces, as he explained the motivation and the process, my appreciation for the pieces expanded tremendously. They are are very well thought out and unique. I was particularly impressed by the abstract nature of the work. I thought it was a refreshing take on classic Greek culture, a new twist on the "ideal form" that Plato popularized. The abstract nature of the work is an interesting juxtaposition of that Platonic ideal, giving the classic forms a modern colorful twist. One of my favorite pieces that he showed us dealt with Achilles, although I couldn't post that one here because it is due to be posted in a gallery soon.

If you would like to see more of Shawn's work, the Main Stope gallery on Park St. is showing a few pieces, and a few other pieces are at Jailhouse Coffee on Park St, and at the Blue Luna.

Here a few examples of his work -

  "The Graces"

"Charging Ox"

"TheStormLord"- not full title, I had it and lost it!