Shawn Marshall
Shawn Marshall is a collage artist who has exhibited across the United States, particularly in Kentucky, as well as in Canada, and has a background in architecture. Recent solo exhibitions include venues such as Jen Tough Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, John G. Irving Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky, Capacity Contemporary and Lowber Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky as well as Lexington Art League. Notable collective exhibitions include multiple showings at Viridian Artists in New York, Gather Gallery in Louisville, Carnegie Cultural Arts Center, Pyro Gallery in Louisville, Sanctuary Gallery in Lexington, dual shows at Kefi Art Gallery in Toronto, and Georgetown College in Kentucky. Shawn’s works remain in the collections of Brown-Forman Corporation, PNC Bank, Commonwealth Bank, and the University of Kentucky as well as numerous private collections in the United States and Europe.
These urban-themed collages tend to portray architecture, interiors, industrial scenery, such as depictions of factories and train depots, and most of the clippings used appear vintage in age and nature. The works often have variety as Shawn sometimes incorporates beeswax, paint, and text into selective pieces. With a great sense of chaotic structure, although applied almost geometrically, the pieces feel disjointed like an abstract work of art yet contain realistic portions of representational subjects asymmetrically conjoining with one another.
Altering between figurative and non-figurative depictions, Shawn enables her figures to wallow in teared, disjoined spaces or exteriors in order to represent a sense of isolation and erratic behavior. The works could be regarded as highly stimulating due to the fragmented and often chaotic juxtaposition between the various forms of collage, only subdued by the frequent use of neutral and earth tones throughout the compositions. Overall, the strategy within Shawn’s collages can be regarded as either mysterious or non-objective as the pieces reflect unclear communicative concepts. However, the consistency we can find within the works would be the grid-like structure and centralization of the various clippings, even if they are applied asymmetrically for the most part.
Passage (pictured above) appears to portray what could be seen as a train depot and heliport, reflecting various modes of transportation simultaneously. On the bottom appears to be the depiction of a ceiling containing some sort of transportation depot such as an airport or train station. Mashing together various forms of transport appears to reveal a strategy towards revealing the inclinations and machinations of modes of modern travel. Passage remains one of Shawn’s most balanced works as there appears to be a coherent structure to the overall composition and layout of integration through forms.
Shawn Marshall investigates the purpose of surface and subject matter through depictions of compositions based on deconstructing holistic form. Rather than constructing a narrative, her collages behave similar to modern art designs of the 1960’s and 1970’s through minimalism and pop art, emphasizing geometric design principles and uniformity. What sets her work apart would be the inclinations to present an air of mysterious spatial intervals within depictions of industrialized scenery using retro imagery, with stormy juxtaposed compositions within the confines of neutrality of neutral and earth tones.
