Artist Statement

Elements of the modern landscape have evolved into a sort of paradox. Industry has developed to sustain our lifestyles of necessity, comfort and convenience yet the actual means by which our goods and services are provided often become a sort of background noise or even an intrusive nuisance/eyesore. I revel in such feats of engineering- looking at architecture and the modern industrialized landscape with interest and wonder. My work represents those objects as man-made “fingerprints” integrated into the natural environment with varying degrees of harmony and tension.

Working with traditional materials and techniques (oil, watercolor, drawing) layers are created to evoke emotion, atmosphere, decay, etc. Careful consideration to find the cast of characters for each piece is usually the first step as the places I choose to paint can be quite busy and cluttered. The placement of objects in the space is a priority and I will often treat a source photo as a still-life. Through extensive editing, which often involves reorganization and simplification of subject matter to suit a desired aesthetic, my compositions take shape. Some objects become monumental structures shrouded in soot and isolated while others may mesh and mingle with one another.

I believe art is made to stir human emotion and create a connection of some sort. My goal is to make images which trigger something within the viewer- perhaps a memory of a time or place which may or may not have anything to do with the subject they are looking at. The work must speak to the viewer and it will communicate with each in a different voice, maybe it whispers, maybe it shouts…such is the excitement of making and looking at art.

Biography

Born in Pennsylvania, Sean has had an interest in the arts since childhood. He has explored a wide range of subjects and media – from drawings of spaceships and monsters inspired by television and movies, to paintings which explore landscape and architectural form. Although his sensibilities have changed and skills evolved, Sean has always used elements of form, space and color to search for his voice and comment on a small part of the world around him – an undertaking which he believes is a lifelong journey.

Sean graduated from the Delaware College of Art and Design (illustration) in Wilmington, Delaware in 2001 – an inspiring and rewarding experience. He then continued his formal education in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (illustration) in 2004.  For his final year at RISD, Sean was selected for the European Honors Program in which he was immersed in Italian culture, living in Rome for 9 months and studying the Italian language as well as European artistic treasures firsthand.

Sean has been focused mainly on painting since, doing freelance commissions as well as showing work regularly in Boston at the Copley Society of Art.

Sean is currently living in Providence with his wife Lisa, daughter Sophia, and son Ethan.