Gabriel O’Shea (1998) is a Mexican-based artist. He works with different materials and techniques such as drawing, painting, installations, sculptures and photography. O’Shea is always experimenting with the materiality of his works, from printing on old paper (or old techniques like cyanotypes) to making sculptures with organic materials mixing them with old drapery.
Memory is a constant theme in Gabriel’s work, his dream-looking images balance through a peaceful & violent space, which can be left to the interpretation of the observer.
Self-taught or art school?
I don’t believe in the ¨Self-thaught¨ term, I think that we are always learning from books, photographs, paintings, from life…
But in this case, I would say I learned photography on my own (with books and interviews of my favourite photographers) and I learned how to draw at the Barcelona Academy of Art. I do not believe in talent as something definitive, I believe that the knowledge of doing something is obtained from practice and a lot of hard work.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
La Piedad, José de Ribera (1633).
How would you describe your style?
If I had read that question before, let’s say; yesterday, I would have answered differently.
But today I feel like my style is a little bit dark, poetic, and mysterious if you look at it closely.
Right now I’m trying to figure out how to mix my classical techniques with something more contemporary. In my photographs, I’m always looking for something I can make with my own hands, not only digital images, but adding some hand-made textures, or printing in old and prepared fabrics, sometimes I even use old techniques like Cyanotypes.
For my paintings I normally use Oil painting on canvas with a figurative approach, but I’m always trying to improve my techniques so I can make different visual effects, different concepts or just painting on different surfaces in which I could play more with the materiality.
Memory has been a present theme in my work, another constant in my work would be the anxiety caused by the faces or bodies in my works, many times it is almost impossible to decipher their expressions, which is why you find yourself on a line between peace and violence.
Can you tell us about your artistic process?
Last year I started working in series, before that I just worked randomly guided by my feelings or thoughts, but now I feel like my work is getting more serious.
Last year (2020) I worked on a series called ¨Huéspedes¨, a series of monochromatic paintings and drawings of hospitalized people, using reference images from very old books that I found very interesting, I learned about diseases and also about old medical methods that were very disturbing for me, so I decided to make some Paintings of these people that suffered a lot, in a way, I tried to give them ¨life¨ again.
A big part of my process is to be sitting just thinking. My work is always evolving, so my process is always changing.
Is narrative important within your work?
I normally make figurative works, so I think you always can make a narrative attached to it.
Last year I was asked to do a selection of works for an exhibition, and I was at the studio trying to figure out what was a line that connected some of my last works, and I found out I had been talking about violence but I’m sure I could have found another theme that connected these artworks with others; the possibilities are infinite.
Narrative is important for me since I’m working on a series of works.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
Since I was a kid I always made lists of my favorite artists, so this is a very hard question to answer. I’m always looking for new artworks and artists, If we go back in time I would say, Caravaggio, José de Ribera, Goya, and many others, I think one of the things that attract me the most of these artists is the use of chiaroscuros, their technique, the compositions, but also the human connection; the feelings, the philosophic ideas and questions that arrived looking at their paintings.
I’m not mentioning any contemporary artists because there are a lot.
What or who inspires your art?
Life, the human body, existentialism, history, my feelings, a lot of things.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
It’s located in Metepec, a small city near Mexico City.
It was an old mechanical workshop, but now is an art studio, I had been living and working here for almost two years now, I have a place for each activity; I have a place for drawing, a place for painting, a photography studio, a dark room, a small music studio and also my bedroom. I could not live in another place, I work all day long, I jump from one activity to another: painting to drawing, music to photographs, depends on the day and on the projects I have in mind.
Do you have any studio rituals?
This week I opened more than 8 big books of painters I admire and I put them around the studio, so when I was walking while painting I could see how they solve many things, like painting fabrics.
I have a big couch that I use only for thinking and for staring at my paintings in order to know what to do next, painting is an activity that tires me a lot mentally.
I’m always working alone in the studio, sometimes listening to music vinyls or to art debates on YouTube.
What are you working on currently?
Right now I’m starting a new series of works called ¨ The absence of the divine as a path to nihilism¨, in which I’m talking about contemporary nihilism and also trying to show some apocalyptic/contemporary versions of old baroque works. In a way, I’m trying to show one of the most important problems in actuality, the absence of spirituality in our daily life, and I’m not talking about it religiously, I’m thinking of it as the lack of the human spirit, the lack of existential questioning, we have robotized, we’re always running and we are forgetting essential questions like the sense of existence, the unconscious, time, life, death.
Where can we buy your art?
I have a contact form on my website: www.gabrieloshea.com
But also you can send me a DM on instagram: @gabrieloshea.
(You can also send an email for a Studio visit.)
