ARTIST NUMBER TWELVE: Sean Mahan

The twelfth artist I am going to talk about is Sean Mahan. An artist based out of Florida, Mahan is a "social realist figurative  painter. He uses acrylic washes and graphite on wood to create semi- translucent portraits that are captivating and whimsical. His goal in producing portraits of children are to show the innocence and softness of human character as seen throughout generations. He continues to study the effect that power and circumstance has on the nature of children and seeks to find and explain answers through his art. The paintings are social-realist graphite renderings on oak and birch, colored with thin washes of acrylic. Mahan stated the following when explaining his paintings: "They depict a sense of wonder at the simple inherent sweetness of the human character and its conflict with structures of power and control.  In this series, the symbol of the “shadow person” is repeatedly used to pose questions about those “in the shadow of power,” and to pose questions about our insulated view of the impact popular consumer culture has on others." (Sean Mahan- seanmahanart.com)