Shaun Johnson Artist

Artistic Influences:

The Irish artists Jack B Yeats, Patrick Collins, and Gerard Dillon are a few of his favourite painters.

Some of his favourites are interiors by Pierre Bonnard, Edward Vuillard, Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin Their control of colour, pattern and tone together with the expression of the narative. His longterm American favourites are Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth, Thomas Hart Benton, Charles Sheeler, Georgia O'Keeffe, Grant Wood and his former teacher Jacob Lawrence.
Jacob Lawrence and Spencer Moseley were among his former teachers at the University of Washington, in Seattle, It was here he obtained his BFA in Painting and BA in Art in 1987
 


                             
                                                         



At The University of Washington in Seattle, it was Prof. Lawrence who had a strong influence on
him, by his narative/historical scenes of a developing nation. Shaun met Jacob in his final years of his Undergraduate Degree, attaining at that time, a 4.0 Grade from him, in the School of Art at the University. At that time Shaun was, and still paints narative work of Irish context (see collection B).

Shaun's induction to Art at the University was delivered by the likes of Spencer Moseley, Gene Pizzuto, Bill Hixson, Ken Pawula, Norman Lundin and Chuck Smith.

All these influences prepared him for a variety of ways of working and interpreting the world in his unique visual way, thus the different collections that are represented here. 


The Four Collections

Collection A- West of Ireland
style : semi-realism
Content: Landscape and architecture

Exemplified by the landscape of the West, Shaun spends time travelling around with his easel to coastal regions and paints on location the scene before him. The immediacy of the scene as it plays itself out by its changing light and elements is one that he aims to capture. Working this way enables him to catch the essence of the place, as did the Irish impressionists of the 1850s. : Roderic O'Connor.
Shaun often wakes in the Castlegregory area of West Kerry at 5:30 am, to find the spot where he will best work. He often scouts the area with local people beforehand. Scenes of Castlegregory and Dingle in Kerry have been absorbing to him in 2007 and 2008.

Collection B- Post moralism
Style: Imaginative-figurative
Content: contemporary Ireland. 

As the Irish Republic moves rapidly away from its long established faith- that of the Catholisism, a void is being left. What once was the fabric of Irelands society - The Church, is being filled in its place, by alternative activities.  The role models of the past were those who possessed principles of love, forgiveness and respect. Now that the Church is dimminishing there is yet one more model of redemption lacking in our lives and that of our childrens lives. little is taking its place and thus we are heading towards unknown waters. The recession has taken hold now and thingss are once again begining to change. People now have a little more time for one another and a little less greed 

Work
Parents are stretched by work commitments and thus time given to raise their children is diminished. Creches have replaced the parents in the home, and what is being seen, is a society that is directionless and breaking down in terms of moral fibre. This is due in no small part by the pressure society puts on us to afford to live in Ireland in the 21st Century, and our insatiable need to aquire "things". As a teacher for many years, Shaun is aware of these changes that have taken place, and wishes to deliver through his work a visual roadmap for the future. A means for those who engage visually, to find their way and their families way to a healthier life.

Collection C-interiors and still-life
Style: semi-realism
Content: nature and architecture

This collection consists of work completed at his home at "Kingsland" in North Kerry, between the towns of Listowel an Abbeyfeale. Kingsland House where Shaun resides, is in a rural area. The house is of the Georgian period and was formally a Landlords house in the locality. It was built circa 1845 and retains much of the origianal features. Shaun Has lived here since 1999.

Collection D - Paintings of North Kerry
Style: semi-realism
Content: Interior and exterior

Completed at the artists home and his locality of Listowel and Abbeyfeale, in North Kerry. Many of the pieces are painted with an immediacy of working outside. The scencs depict the rural work of farmers as they affect the landscape with machine and also the of the natural beauty of the wild untouched
landscape and buildings of the area.