Kilkenny Arts Office is pleased to announce Lee Shanahan as the selected emerging artist from our Kilkenny Emerging Artist open call. Lee is an Irish figurative painter. His work is focused on human interaction in the contemporary environment. He is drawn to themes such as communication and visual narrative in their most basic and direct forms, resulting in bold and intriguing images. Lee has exhibited his work as part of Kilkenny Arts Festival and Thomastown Creative Arts Festival 2018 & 2019. A graduate of Fine Art at Ormonde College where he received the Blackstack Studio Bursary Award 2019. Lee has participated in Postcards From The Edge 2021 exhibition in association with Limerick School of Art and Design and The Hunt Museum. Most recently he has had work published in ROPES Literary Journal 2021 and 2022. Coming later in 2022, Lee will have his visual artwork published on the cover of emerging poet Paddy Walsh’s debut published collection. Lee is currently studying Fine Art Painting at Limerick School of Art and Design.
Our emerging curator Sinéad Keogh states of his work ” I am very excited to work with such a charged and powerful young artist at the start of his career. Lee has a special point of view that makes him stand out. His work is melancholy yet relatable, thought provoking and haunting.”
You can follow Lee Shanahan’s work on his Instagram @leeshanahanart
(image description: a portrait of a young man with short dark hair and a black jacket and t-shirt. He sits clasping his hands seated in front of two of his paintings, The Winter Coat (2020) to the left and Self Portrait (2021) to the right. ‘Winter Coat’ depicts a tall man with his hands clasped standing near a door with a dark coat hanging from it. ‘Self Portrait’ depicts a man lying across a surface, clutching his throat.)
This exhibition is curated by Sinéad Keogh as part of Kilkenny Arts Office’s Emerging Curator Development Programme, funded by Kilkenny County Council and the Arts Council of Ireland. This exhibition is supported by MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre.
