March 2011 to February 2012 >> Development

Click to view larger - Numbered 1 to 8 left to right

[PLEASE TAKE NOTE: IMAGES DISPLAYED ARE NOT DIRECT THE ORGINAL DIGITAL REPRESENTATION BUT PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS, FOR STUDY PURPOSES ONLY]

Over the past year I have broken through into fine art photography and this lens based medium has since become the primary focus of my studio practice. The timeline above features some of the most relevant images that I created that relate primarily to the significance in the development of my ideas and concept.

The Timeline Explained

I have always been very interested in dance, theatre and drama yet also with that a great delight in psychology and the reaction and interaction of the body and its responses to music and emotion. The images above, numbered '1' and '2' were taken in my early studio shoots. In the shoot I am dancing to a choreographed piece. The camera is positioned directly in front of the figure and taken consequetievely every 3 seconds. This released control from my power. The photographs in image '2' were then printed and layed out in a line showing the still imagery in a time lapse.

Ballet is a form of dancing that professionals perfect from a very early age through strenuous training. The beauty of the dance is what we the spectator would see at a ballet performance but what we don't see is the graduation upto that point, the imperfections that occur throughout the training process. In the image '2' we see a selection of images from one particular dance. They are layed out chronoglogically though pick out each step sub-consciously to the dancer in that he is unaware as to when the picture will be taken, pointing out the perfections as well as the imperfections.

Photography '3' shows the influence of man-made and natural objects brought into the frame and how it can influence the body language and emotional response of the model. This was also taken in a raw environment as opposed to the studio. The influence of dance is continued. Other shoots that were taken during this time featured the taking of an external dancer as opposed to self-portraiture; the presentation of these images lay particular importance - for image '3', small photographs from the entire shoot were exhibited and surrounded by the material incorporated into the shoot.

Image '4' brings us to September 2011 where I went back to using the Photography Studio as my main environment. Lighting became very important to me as is focused the voyeur to certain elements of the photograph and also creating an additional emotive to the image. When it came to the camera, technical alterations began to also hold a primary influence. Emphasising the movement in the image and the dance itelf was enhanced by this - leaving the exposure open for a longer period of time allowed me to do this. The faster the model moved the less clear the image would be - this resulted in some beautifully delicate photographs.

The idea of emotional response is clearly evident in photograph '5'. The focus and compositioning of the image along with the lighting highlight the emotion in the image.

I continued along with further emphasis of emotional response and dramatic expression of the model; light direction, positioning, strength and colour; and camera angels, positioning and direction, exposure length and focus.

Caravaggio; A Sub-Conscious Influence

Left: Caravaggio; David with the head of Goliath - Detail (1609-1610)

Right: Eamonn B. Shanahan; Studio Emotive Performance (2011) 

Ultimately I am a huge fan of the great master Caravaggio. His beautiful attention to detail and life-like qualities amaze me. However when I was shooting my Performance Art Work, I had not intended to have a Caravaggio-like relation attached to my work.

This acknowledgement came to me in a lecture on Caravaggio by Vera Ryan on Monday 21st November 2011 and also from comments and observations from my colleagues. However in the lecture Vera Ryan spoke about the early works of Caravaggio in which the master created self-portraits, moreover she stated that there was an 'irrelevance of time and space' in these early paintings. Currently, as my work is based in an environment that is neutral, I would like to believe that this influence has much duplication from Caravaggio though in the medium of photography.

Furthermore in the continuation of my studio work I hope to develop the irrelevance of time and space and push it to its limits incorporating my own response to movement and emotive response.

Mystical World - Thoughts

A place where the bees do not sting and the lions do not roar; where one can carelessly walk through nature. No fear. No stress. No time constraints. A beautiful place where dreams can wonder. The colours of dusk glisten in the air; brilliant blues and starry whites enchant the visitor. The sound of sweet magical music flows gently within the very soul.

EAMONN SHANAHAN

An Introduction to 'A Mystical World'

The beginning of a Mystical World

The formation of my new world is now underway. My inspiration comes from the modern day film makers including that of Tim Burton, with his quirky and dramatic set work and multimedia animation; Disney for what he is, a master of the film world but also an artist in his own right. The Socorers Apprentice shows this exactly like many other of Disney's films - Beautiful, positive, musical and magical all describe his work and I want to try and achieve these very aspects in my work.

I wanted the underlay of this painting to be dark for one primary reason - to highlight and emphasis the lighter features in the painting. The trickling water in the far background is the focus in this painting. However it should lead the eye swirling around the soft blue tones of the painting to reach the foreground - the red and darker pigments.

 

 

I have not achieved what I want to achieve as of yet. The point of 'magic-ness' and musical mystery is not as evident as it should be. However what is present and what will be carried forward is the movement. Movement is certainly illustrated in this painting through the large brush strokes, the direction and flow of colour and the falling of water. This will be further emphasised in the future and I hope that the influence of the figure and natural aspects will aid this also.


The combination of my performance work, the addition of textures such as sand and plaster to give dimension and with the idea of the mystical world is the direction that I'm aiming towards.

Today

Today I am working with two main ideas with the hope of merging them together. Before I continue I will just briefly explain these.

PERFORMANCE ART

In Spring of this year I wanted to focus my work on dance, music and art as a whole. I began working with oils, using music sheet paper as my canvas and applying the paint delicately. I created an image of beauty and perfection to represent that in the art of ballet refuting it with the natural beauty of the world. However as the imagery that I was creating was that bit too beautiful and 'Disney' like, I took the opportunity to change medium and import myself into the picture.

Nature Vs Ballet

Music & Lyrics

To do this I began working with performance art. Using digital photography I self-shoot solo-performances of myself dancing. It was suggested to use a Video Camera to record it however I preferred to get the results of a SLR Digital Camera in that it would miss the in between frames and pick up on the flaws as well as the perfected movements. The positioning of the images in the presentation of the work was also very important which is clearly illustrated in the images below. I believe that the placement of the prints was vital for this project to work, it added another dimension.

 

Influence of Materials & Raw Setting

Original Studio Shoot

Rihanna S&M

I am currently developing this concept of performance art, pushing it to the next level.

A MYSTICAL WORLD

Tim Burton, Walt Disney, JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyer and James Cameron all created a new world. These creations all feature the four main elements of fire, water, air, and land which are necessary. However I would like to create a world that you can feel the music present in the 2D painting, without presence of physical sound; If you will, a world for the deaf. I believe that my performance work could aid the creation of this new world and therefore I would like to eventually merge these two main aspects of my work.

...AND BACK TO TODAYMy influences from the start included such artists as Degas, Richter, Duchamp, Rembrandt, Disney, Burton, Muybridge and even touches of the great Renaissance artist Caravaggio. With these influential people along with my own primary research in the photography studio I have developed into a new aspect of the photographic sessions. Dance and music is certainly still present yet aperture and shutter-speed setting alterations allowed me to create a moving image in one single shot. I wish to transfer these images to 2D paintings to push them further. But prior to that I will further explore the graduation I have made since my initial photo-shoot in the Spring, seeking out other color options, clothing, setting, moving objects and natural life, figurative expression through dance and acting etc.

A New Development

Expressive Emotion

Welcome

I am creating this blog to share my work and ideas with the world. As a second year student in Crawford College of Art & Design, I wanted to get an external opinion. Read the following post on my current works, how I hope it to develop and how I got there.