shannon richardson

by shannon richardson
(lake forest, ca)

In Shannon Richardson's recent images, she transcends the boundaries between reality and memory with an element of the fantastic. Each painting becomes a template through which we can imagine our place in the world. Often referencing fairy tales as a way to describe her work, in a sense they are private fables. With a colorful palette and whimsical characters, their surface qualities are reminiscent of childlike stories, but what lies beneath the surface is a darker message grounded in real life experiences. While using her art to both define and obliterate her past, she is able to take some of the severity of life and turn it into something tangible and beautiful, if not quite real. Through her art she has learned to accept and even relish her own eccentricities and imperfections, so much so that we are made privy to the idea of the irregularity of life through the sometimes grotesque beauty in her figures.

Find more paintings by this artist at: www.shannonrichardsonpaintings.com