Artist Statement
My work explores the metaphysical or emotional realm through a painting process that employs physical forces. I depict emotional energies such as grief, despair, isolation, and anxiety by utilizing physical energies such as gravity, water erosion, and sedimentation. I use gravity itself as a medium to develop imagery that is dictated by natural law. Water erosion and sedimentation also determine parts of the visual outcome, as pigments are swept away from certain areas, and deposited in others where water accumulates and evaporates. I use the visual forms that develop to depict emotional forces and energies that are unseen but very real powers in the world. My creative process acts as a metaphor for the themes of powerlessness that inspire my work. Moreover, by incorporating natural forces into my drawing and painting process, I am simultaneously exalting natural order while decrying the iniquities created by human order.
About the Artist
Shaun C. Whiteside graduated with a BA from CNU's art department in 2007, and received an MFA from Radford University in 2011, where he studied under Doctor Halide Salam. He is currently an adjunct instructor at Radford University.
Whiteside's work has been awarded First Place/Best in Show at:
the Academy Center for the Arts' “2019 National Juried Art Exhibition,”
the Shenandoah Valley Art Center's 2017 “40 Under 40” exhibition,
the Bower Center for the Arts' “2016 Annual National Juried Exhibition,”
the Lynchburg Art Club's 2015 “Water Ways” exhibition,
the Riverviews'/Terry-Craddock Gallery's 2015 “7th Annual Juried Art Show,”
the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art's "New Waves 2013" exhibition,
the Jacksonville Center for the Arts' “2013 Juried Show,”
and at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center's "2010 Biennial Exhibition."
Whiteside has had work published in several periodicals, including twice in the International Painting Annual (INPA), published by the Manifest creative research gallery and drawing center in Cincinnati, OH. He was also a recipient of a 2011-2012 VMFA Fellowship grant. Whiteside has exhibited from California to New York, as well as in Japan, and his works are in public and private collections from Arizona to New Jersey.
Shaun C. Whiteside
www.scwhiteside.net