Sean McDonnell: paintings

In his fifth solo exhibition, painter Sean McDonnell pays homage to the 'face in the crowd’; exploring the intricacies of the individuals that make up the bigger picture we see every day.

In this, his first body of work focusing solely on portraiture, he paints both people and animals, exploring the concept that we are not as different from each other as we might think.

Inspired by photographs, newspaper clippings and images from books, Sean is not concerned where he finds his subjects, confident that they are all part of a greater whole, though he prefers not to portray anyone immediately recognisable, whose associations would cause them to stand out from the group.

Painting each face, be it human or animal, with a neutral expression means the viewer focuses on form and structure, with emotional impact created through the expressive use of colour.

Sean’s own face appears amongst the many, revealing that he feels he is as much a part of the mosaic of life as any of his subjects.

Sean McDonnell grew up on the North Shores graduating from Elam in 2002 where he majored in painting. Sean then moved to Dargaville where he taught art to secondary school students. He recently spent a year in Japan where he continued to teach and paint.