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Sean Mahan
26 march 8-14, 2007 | entertaining u newspaper
Tacos and art - two great tastes that go
great together. This week, I visited the Burrito
Gallery for some mahi tacos (possibly the best
fish tacos this side of the Rio Grande) and happened
to see some impressive works by two
artists, Dan May and Sean Mahan. Although the
choice of subject matter and color palettes used
by May and Mahan differ greatly, they both have
a sharp ability to draw the viewer into each painting’s
story. Rarely does one find such impressive
artistic skill outside a gallery or museum (or
inside them, for that matter).
I also paid a visit to the Cultural Center at
Ponte Vedra Beach, where I was treated to the
drawings and prints of Donald Martin. He, too,
is an artist who exhibits a degree of illustrative
quality in his work, focusing primarily on landscapes
and other scenes.
It’s always a pleasant surprise to discover
interesting works of art in unexpected places,
and I’ve always believed that it’s often more
effective to take art to the people instead of trying
to lure people to the art. It is by no means
the best idea for every style or medium, but
many artists can benefit greatly from displaying
their work in unorthodox places like restaurants
or stores. If the artwork is well executed, a new
context for viewing often heightens the impact
on a viewer while adding an extra level of quality
to the establishment.
Dan May
The first works I saw were acrylic paintings by
Dan May. Painted in an illustrative style reminiscent
of classic, weird children’s books and the cartoon
art of Spongebob Squarepants, most of his works
are very small, yet finely detailed, bringing his fictional
subjects to vivid life. Looking something like
microorganisms under a microscope, May’s oddly
shaped monsters are expressive, humorous, and
often engaging. He displays an enormous amount of
technical skill with each painting, filling the surface
with bright, unique colors.
While May’s paintings clearly present a fantastical
world filled with strange little beings and
uncommon forms, many also contain a thread of
allegory to keep your brain talking while your eyes
examine the heavy flow of new images. The thought
of them living in my eyebrows and clothing gives me
the willies, yet I welcome the drama and excitement
they might bring to my skin cells.
Dan May (below)
art along the
way
Donald Martin, Sean Mahan and
Dan May
by DONALD DUSINBERRE Iimartsyfartsy @ gmail.com
Discover more about Dan
May and his illustrative works
by visiting his website at www.
mayillustration.com.
Sean Mahan
Apparently, the Burrito Gallery was having
a two-for-one special on artwork from
highly skilled painters. Across the room from
May’s colorful microorganisms were the sublime
works of Sean Mahan. Complete with an
aged appearance, his pastoral portraits recall
a time long since passed, but still readily recognizable.
They’re comfortable and interesting
at the same time.
Skillfully painted on 2x2 wooden panels,
Mahan’s portraits usually depict a lone person
undertaking a singular task (or no task at all)
with virtually no background information. His
depiction of the human form is masterful.
He possesses an impeccable sense of light
and dark and a sophisticated palette of color,
and they are mixed together in his works in a
unique process. All of Mahan’s works balance
the informational qualities of drawing while
utilizing the depth-finding qualities of color.
Although that may not sound particularly
interesting at first, many of the subjects look
straight at us, through the picture plane, with
an unusual expression that begs us to inquire.
Check out more paintings by Sean Mahan
at his website, www.seanmahanart.com.
DonalD Martin
Just inside the doors of the Cultural Center
at Ponte Vedra Beach were the large drawings
and relatively small prints of professor
Donald Martin. With their generous size, the
charcoal drawings are capable of communicating a
great deal of information without appearing too detailed.
Primarily through the use of black as well as
white sticks of charcoal, Martin was able to capture
the sense of light and dark so essential to landscape
art.
In addition to the large-scale drawings, Martin
displays his small prints, each of which consists
of a small group of images, including detailed renderings
of a few of the larger works. Since I have
a habit of looking very closely at artwork, I found
that the prints were far more visually stimulating
than the charcoal drawings. The prints appeared
more crisp and authentic, as if plucked from the
pages of an old Audubon book.
What I found most interesting about the work
of Donald Martin cannot be seen with the naked
eye. Unlike many artists, he willfully recognizes
an inextricable link between nature’s essence and
his place within it, citing a theologian noted for his
existential Christian philosophy. Particularly in the
world of landscape art, it has always surprised me
that so many artists are reluctant to acknowledge
any spiritual basis for their work, yet Martin seems
to delight in the esoteric qualities of the natural
scenes around him.
DonalD Martin (below)