Shane O’Driscoll
Six days, 2022, silkscreen, 50 x 50cm
“I enjoy mixing colours as I make the print, its all very immediate when I am working in the studio. I like to get as much done in one session and have often worked through the night to morning when working on a print. The colours mixed are a record of that time.”
Shane O’Driscoll is an artist living and working in Cork, Ireland. His approach to color is intuitive, and his approach to printmaking is redactive and experimental. Shane’s graphic, bold and bright works are created with silkscreen and letterpress printmaking techniques. He also works with painted murals and sculptures. Currently Shane is working on a few commissions and a project with a local school, as well as co-directing a street art project in his home city.
Are there specific associations towards color in your work?
My colour palette is generally bright and vibrant. I worked in a surf shop years ago and the graphic artwork and colours of surf culture resonate with me, so I feel there is a physical attraction to those warm and neon colours. Also, the counter culture aspect appeals to me, which seeps into the experimental aspects of my work.
Graphic design and abstraction play a large role in my research, as I studied design rather than fine art in college. I enjoy taking graphic design elements that are used in one form of communication and repurposing it to create another. I have taken text and broken it down so it is not recognised as a letterform and integrated it to abstract compositions.
Colour association is a strong element of some artists I find, they become aligned with certain colourways and I can relate to that. There is a strong familiarity with certain colour palettes for me. I went through a phase of using the same colours for about a year and my wife kept asking me about changing it up, but I had found a sweet spot with how they worked and with the prints I was making at the time. The paper, colour and ink all worked in sync and any new addition or alteration of colour would have felt wrong.
Dizzy, dizzy, dizzy, we all fall down, 2018, silkscreen, 50 x 70cm
Zappa, 2022, silkscreen, 70 x 70cm
Coat of Butterflies, 2022, silkscreen, 70 x 70cm
All one under the sun, 2021, letterpress, 40 x 40cm.
“I sometimes leave a colour that I know would be considered wrong or not working to act as a purposed glitch. We spend so long trying to make everything print perfect and these perceived errors act as a conversation point which leaves the artwork incomplete in some way, which I enjoy.”
Untitled, 2019, silkscreen, 100 x 100cm
How does the printmaking process itself relate to how you work with color?
Having shapes exposed in the screen when working allows me to quickly change colours as I work and I often change colours and composition when working on a print, enjoying the spontaneity of new compositions. The neon ink I use doesn't work in certain overprint situations, as it can mute it rather than elevate it, so that is an aspect of the process I work with and push.
I sometimes leave a colour that I know would be considered wrong or not working to act as a purposed glitch. We spend so long trying to make everything print perfect and these perceived errors act as a conversation point which leaves the artwork incomplete in some way, which I enjoy.
The bright colours I use each have weight on their own, but can be flat or the print seems unfulfilled without the addition of bold black shapes or marks in the final composition. I enjoy exposing a selection shapes on the screen and feeling my way through some compositions, layering more and more until it locks in place.
Last night I heard everything in slow motion, 2022, silkscreen, 100 x 100cm
Where do you reside between technical and intuitive in your work as an artist using color?
I try to keep it as intuitive as possible, as technically mixing colours takes away the gut feeling and enjoyment of creating a new colour mix. My introduction to printmaking was a module in college when studying Graphic design and I loved getting off the computer and mixing ink, the tactility of it really drew me to handmade prints. I enjoy mixing colours as I make the print, its all very immediate when I am working in the studio. I like to get as much done in one session and have often worked through the night to morning when working on a print. The colours mixed are a record of that time.
I often keep scraps of colour that I find and take photos to document different colour combinations. I often tear up old prints and reassemble them to create new colour combinations which may be used in the future. There are colours that I have mixed before and can't seem to recreate, which is frustrating, but also a challenge to finding it again.
What would your work be without color?
Structurally sound and silent. I love seeing the way colour reacts in my artwork, as it gives a great energy to the pieces. I worked as a graphic designer full time for a number of years and always struggled with colour on a screen, but printmaking and the way ink reacts on the paper is a far more rewarding practice for me. There is a freedom in the control as the work is not fulfilled by a print house but myself.
I don't make large editions of my prints as I lose interest in the repetitive process, the immediacy of creating something new is gone once the first print is made. I will often create varied editions to allow more possibilities with colour. The ink sits differently on various papers and the experience of colour intensifies with a nice paper.
The Golden Age, 2022, silkscreen, 43 x 70cm