Shane Turner

b.1987 Montreal,Quebec, Canada. After beginning my career as a self-taught artist, I returned to school in 2010 to get a B.F.A. in Art History & Studio Arts at Concordia University. My artwork is indirectly influenced by the many things that inspire me; ranging from comic books, graffiti, photography and surrealist artists. Whether it be using the influence of comic style inking, photography style lighting, or surrealistic dripping colors flowing over the body, my works attempt to explore different ways of seeing the world, and often the female figure. My use of color and contrast to attract the viewer, while painting something surreal, allows people to view essentially traditional content, like figurative works, in a more modern, less typical way. My dripping paintings (Psychameleon) began as an exploration of painting the body, and wanting to see how much of the figure could be removed, while still having the beauty of the feminine contours remain apparent. The bold colors create an instant connection with the viewer, and the dripping liquid has, to me, a calming effect that allows people to just look at the whole image while the figure reveals itself. By using a variety of acrylic paints and effects mediums, the dripping pieces literally have a physical presence and draw to them. The dimensional raised paint, with the glossy colors standing out from the matte solid color background, create a very dynamic image in person. The pointillism drawings are an ongoing study of light and shape. Using the stippling/pointillism method is a slow process that requires a near-meditative focus to create the subtle gradients from thousands of tiny dots. I typically use these light/shadow and techniques of dimensional light photography, to create artworks like the ‘Out of the Shadows’, and ‘Into the Light’ series’. This allows me to create works that are simultaneously very realistic, yet at first seemingly abstract images.Though these series’ are often black and white, they share the same general ideas of using negative space in my paintings, which is to allow people to see a whole image clearly in their mind, while showing less of the actual figure by using strategically lit portions of the body.