STEPHEN J SHANABROOK | 'LIQUID LUSHES & LATE NITE HOUSE OF PILLS'

September 17th - October 19th, 2009

Stephen Shanabrook restlessly works between painful and sweet, death and beauty; melting them together - metaphorically and literally - into one frozen state; one fossil.

In Hopping Hills, The Pharmaceutical Landscape, the artist melts plastic prescription pill bottles and presses them into the form of Easter bunnies. An installation of running and hopping rabbits made out of hundreds of empty pill vessels suggests that prescription drugs have become the new politic as a result of lost hopes and multiplying disconnections.

In Shanabrook's sculpture Island Of The Lotus Eaters the viewer is seduced by the beauty of a huge flower, which upon closer examination becomes again, an artifice made of melted drug bottles. On his long journey back home, Odysseus visited the lethargic island of Lotus-Eaters. The lotus fruits and flowers, which were narcotic and addictive, were the primary food of the islanders. The lotus eater's invited Odysseus' men to sample the drug causing them to forget about their longing for home, now they only wished to stay and eat more lotus. They no longer desired to take the labyrinthine journey back home - the metaphor of our lives. Shanabrook isn't a stranger to addiction,he went to hell and back on his own. The artist mixes materials in a non-stop experimental process, which for his addictive personality, is never enough. Shanabrook covers common plastic soldiers in delicious dark chocolate in his new installation Battle of Losers and Lovers. Stacked on each other, the sweet, desirable chocolate drips on the white surface of office tables - an allegory for the everyday working process, dissatisfaction and a loss of self.

In his rather bizarre statement "The Chocolate Soldier or Heroism - The Lost Chord of Christianity" C.T. Studd (1860-1931) wrote "a soldier without heroism is a chocolate soldier! Dissolving in water and melting at the smell of fire, sweeties they are! Bonbons, lollipops! Living their lives in a glass dish or in a cardboard box, each clad in his soft clothing, a little frilled white paper to pre- serve his dear little delicate constitution." More than a hundred years later I understand that there should be place for all - chocolate soldiers; losers and lovers. Modern society feels like a battlefield and at the end of the day we all want a prize, we want chocolate, we want home. Shanabrook recalls an account of a field medic from the Vietnam War: "He was explaining what he carried with him in his medic's satchel, these bare necessities included: gauze, morphine, tape, comic books and M&Ms. The candies were for the mortally wounded soldiers, the ones that would never make it to the field hospitals. For these soldiers the candy was a way to satisfy a simple desire - to feel closer to home - before they slipped away into that unknown jungle." (Veronika Georgieva, 2009)

2008

Stephen J. Shanabrook, Licking Your Wounds, The Villager (Jeffrey Cyphers Wright)

Stephen J. Shanabrook, Sweet Art Violent Chocolate, Trace212

2007

David Balzer, "Stephen Shanabrook and Adam Chapman", Eye Weekly, Toronto, Canada

Terence Dick, "Toronto", Akimblog, Toronto, Canada

Renata Salecl, conference lecture, Athens Biennial

2006

Renata Salecl, catalog for symposium, Sao Paolo Biennial

Andrey Kovalev, Time Out, Moscow, Russia

Diana Machulina, "Stephen Shanabrook", Afisha, Moscow, Russia

Nikita Alexeev, "Hell and Paradise", gazetaRU, Moscow, Russia

Art News, interview for "Kul’tura" TV station, Russia

"Blessed are the Merciful", The Beuys Factor, on-line magazine

Yulia Tikhonova, "Blessed are the Merciful", Afterimage, May, USA

Alexey Plucer-Sarno, " Pleasure Of War", Moscow Art Magazine, Russia

2005

Irina Kulik, "hudozhnikov podstavili pod oruzhie", Kommersant Daily, Moscow, Russia.

Marina Sokolovskaja, "puli-pyzyri", ZAART Magazine, Moscow, Russia.

Anna Lindberg, "vinovata ona, voyna", Kul'tura, Moscow, Russia

Vanessa Hudig, "Dode Chocolaatjes", Mr.Motley Magazine, The Netherlands

Mira Friedlaender "Where is the Flipside?": Flipside (Artist Space, NY), Fuse Magazine, Canada

Lisi Raskin, Flipside Review, C Magazine # 85, Canada

2004

Renata Salecl, "On Anxiety", book published by Routledge, London

Klaus Witzeling, “Nichts fur Kostverachter", Hamburg Abendblatt, Germany, May

Monika Kohler, “ Vollerei mit Menschenfett", Ossietzky #11, Germany

2003

Francesca Alfano Miglietti, "Extreme Bodies. The Use and Abuse of the Body in Art", book published by Skira Books, Italy

ArtChronika, autumn, Moscow, Russia

Zhenja Plechkina, Michael Magazinnik, "Stephen Shanabrook", Magazinnik # 3-4, New York City

2002

Salecl Renata, "The exposure of privacy in today's culture - Part I: Public/Private The Distinction", Social Research Journal, USA

Tom van Gestel, "Stephen Shanabrook", "Open" Magazine, The Netherlands

Salecl Renata, "Art and Catastrophe", Flash Art Intetnational, July - September

Heather Stephens, Interview with Stephen Shanabrook, Ad!dict Magazine, Power # 16, Belguim

"On the Waterfront Magazine", USA, February

2001

Ad!dict Magazine, "sweets" Source #14, Belguim

Niel Gladstone, Maxim Magazine, USA

Aerden, Monica, "Haarlems mooiste plein ligt te glimmen", Haarlem DagBlad, The Netherlands.

Esquire, October, Japan.

Salecl Renata. "The Art of Life and Death", Flash Art. Aerden, Monica, "Traces of living and dead", Haarlem DagBlad, The Netherlands.

2000

Bennun, Dave, "Most misunderstood artists of all time", Stuff for men #8 New York.

1999

Colin Strohm. "Paradise 8", Artzine, USA

Milner, Catherine." 'Sick' exhibition of body parts", Sunday Telegraph, January, London, England

1998

Monshouwer Saskia, Kunstbeeld, June, The Netherlands

BBC-television broadcast, Glasgow, Scotland.

Gaventa, Sarah. "A chocolate drop of the hard stuff", March, The Gerald, Scotland.

Cuddihy, Deedee. "Chocolate as an art form", TES, March, Scotland Chocolate Art, Chocolate Magazine, March, Scotland.

Art News, Telegraph, March, Scotland. Cowing, Emma. "Leaving a nasty test", TheSunday Times, March, Scotland.

Kremer, Mark. "Give Me a Body with Wings of Paper", Metropolis M #6, January, Amsterdam

1997

Hartog Jager, Hans den. "Realistische sensatiejagers",NRC Handelsblad, October, The Netherlands

Didier Michael, "De Dood in de Pot", De Groene Amsterdammer, The Netherlands

Krpan, Jurij. Interview with SJ Shanabrook, Virus Mutations. # 0 , June, Italy

Figee, Thea. "Beeldende kunst met kruispuntfunctie", Utrechts Nieuwsblad, May, The Netherlands

Schwartz, Ineke. "Goede wil maar niet veel meer dan dat", Volkskrant , May, The Netherlands

Figee, Thea. "Indommelen en schrikken bij Beeldende Kunst a/d Werf", Utrecht

Figee, Thea. "Utrechtse School nu ook podium beeldende kunst" Utrechts Nieuwsblad, February

Hartog Jager, Hans den. NRC Handelsblad Amsterdam, February The Netherlands

1996

Kremer, Mark. "You put me high", catalog for international symposium of performance art

Kempers, Paul. "Het Ware, Het Goede & Het Vieze", De Groene A'dam Amsterdam, December

Sütö, Wilma. "The bitter aftertaste from the sweet shadow", de Volkskrant , November, Amsterdam

Lüticken, Sven. "A shirt with a gunshot hole", Het Parool Amsterdam, December

Monshouwer, Saskia. "Rariteitenkabinet van angst...", Vernissage Kunstmagazine #4, The Netherlands

Sütö, Wilma, de Volkskrant, May, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Stigter, Bianca. "Beelden voor alle zintuigen", NRC Handelsblad The Netherlands

De Rek,Wilma. Utechts Nieuwsblad, May, The Netherlands

Orlova, Milena. "Mystical Snickers", OM magazine, May, Moscow, Russia

Degot, Ekaterina. "Chocolate, with chocolate, about chocolate", Kommersant-Daily, February, Moscow

Listova, Olga. "Show sates sweet tooth", Moscow Tribune #25, February 9, Moscow, Russia

Kovalev, Andrew. "Chocolate the sweet death", Sevodnja-Daily #28, February 22, Moscow

"More chocolate for Moscow Conceptualists", Prav da-Daily #15, January 25, Moscow Russia

1995

Karmel, Pepe. "Chocolate", The New York Times, April

Ficlen, Bill Van. "Street-smart Action from the Green Mountain State"

Providence Journal Rode Island, April

Krabben, Anja. "Morgue Chocolates". Doodgewoon, Spring, Amsterdam The Netherlands

B. Tyrgus. Poliitika, February, Belgrade Yugoslavia

N.D., "Most Amsterdam -Beograd", Nasa Borba, February, Belgrade

Degot, Ekaterina. "Friendship Won". Kommersant-Daily, January, Moscow Russia

1994

Reijnders, Tineke. "'Exchange', Art in Public Places Moscow." Kunst & Museum Journal

Eggink, Ina. "Kunstzinnige chaos in het Pampushout", De Almare, December, The Netherlands

Koemans, Monique. "Toren, wc-papier en koekepan", Het Parool , December, The Netherlands

Hunnington, Richard. "Letting Food Speak for our State of Affairs", Buffalo News, October, USA

1993

Salzirn, Tatiana. "Exchange", Art Journal, Moscow Russia

About Stephen J Shanabrook :

As the son of an obstetrician and town coroner, Shanabrook spent his youth working at a chocolate factory & building robots in the basement of his rural home in Ohio. Now living between New York and Moscow after years in the Netherlands, Shanabrook funnels his lifes influences into a unique vision of surreal beauty formed on the threshold of entropy & disaster. His vision comes very close to the edge where one usually turns back. Shanabrook gives a new & often disturbing meaning to substances & forms otherwise associated with comfort, happiness and banality - chocolate, plastic toys and candies.

Solo Exhibitions

2008 Melting Point, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg ( upcoming )

2008 Devil's Necklace, Orel Art Gallery, Paris

2008 Licking Your Wounds, Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, New York

2008 Autopsy of the Moment and Other Flat Jestures, Charlotte Moser Gallery, Geneva

2006 Hell & Back, XL Projects , Moscow Russia

2006 Hell & Back, Artstrelka Projects, Moscow Russia

2003 Automat, Kubometer Gallery, Art Moscow Russia *

2002 MAF Amsterdam De Schone Kunsten Gallery, Haarlem The Netherlands *

2001 being wet 31 Grand Gallery , New York City

2001 Topographical Study of the Human Brain After a Gunshot Blast to the Mouth De Schone Kunsten Gallery, Haarlem, The Netherlands

1997 Wild East Wild West, De Praktijk Gallery, two person show, with Ronald Ophuis, Amsterdam

1997 Mapping Out Narcotic Finger Movements , Festival a/d Werf, Utrecht The Netherlands *

1997 Kunst RAI Amsterdam De Schone Kunsten Gallery, Haarlem The Netherlands *

1996 Deformed Faces Club, De Schone Kunsten Gallery, Haarlem The Netherlands *

1996 Sleeping with Chocolate installation for Festival a/d Werf, Utrecht The Netherlands

1996 Unknown Resurrections Galerija Kapelica, Ljubljana Slovenia *

1996 Restitution after the meeting of 13 New Planet Gallery, St. Petersburg Russia.

1996 Restitution after the meeting of 13 New Planet Gallery, St. Petersburg Russia.

1996 More (Than) Chocolate Artslink Project, collaboration with Olga Chernysheva, L-Gallery, Moscow Russia*

Group Exhibitions

2008 The Dialectics of Terror, curated by Manon Slome & Joshua Simon, Chelsea Art Museum, New York

2008 Meat After Meat Joy, curated by Heide Hatry, Daneyal Mahmood Gallery, New York

2008 Triptyque, Angers Festival, France

2008 Deadly Serious, EXPRMNTL Galerie, Toulouse, France

2008 Speaking to the Unspeakable, Catherine Clark Gallery, San Fransico

2008 Holy Smoke, Cokkiesnoei, Rotterdam

2007 East/ West, Orel Art, Paris

2007 It's Not a Food, curated by Olga Loupokhova, Era Foundation Museum, Moscow

2007 Love is in The Air, EXPRMNTL Galerie, Toulouse, France

2007 Toutes les couleurs sont autorisées à condition que cela n'empêche pas le commerce, curated by Claud Briand-Picard and Antoine Perrot, Atelier 340 Muzeum, Brussels Belguim

2007 SWAB, Orel Art Gallery, Barcelona Spain

2007 Art Brussels, Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels Belguim

2007 Images Festival, curated by Pablo de Ocampo , Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto Canada

2007 Red Shift Festival, curated by Alina Bliumis, Anthology Film Archives, NYC

2006 Common Destination, curated by Katherine Carl, The Drawing Center, NYC

2006 Rembrandt: Death, Dissection & Doctors, curated by Kees Maas, Lloyd Hotel, Amsterdam

2006 Blessed are the Merciful, curated by Jerome Jacobs, Feigen Contemporary , NYC

2006 Artists and Arms , LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk Poland

2005 Oracle of Truth, curated by Jerome Jacobs , Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels Belguim

2005 Artists and Arms , Contemporary Art Center MARS, Moscow Russia

2005 Boost in the Shell, curated by Jerome Jacobs and Michel Dewilde, De Bond, Bruges Belguim*

2005 Accomplices, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow Biennale, Russia*

2005 Art on Wheels, ArtStrelka, Moscow Russia

2004 Flipside , curated by Katherine Carl , collaboration with Jury Leiderman & Vadim Fishkin, Artists Space, New York City *

2004 Should I Stay or Should I Go? De Schone Kunsten Galerie, Haarlem The Netherlands*

2004 Art Kljasma Contemporary Art Festival, curated by Vladimir Dubossarsky, Moscow Russia

2004 Artists and Arms National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Nizhny Tagil/ Kaliningrad Russia

2004 Art Moscow, Kubometer Gallery, Moscow Russia

2004 Eat It! Kampnagel, Hamburg Germany

2003 Art Kljasma Contemporary Art Festival, Moscow Russia

2003 Gun and Wound, curated by Alisoun Meehan, White Box, Annex, New York City USA

2002 plek voor blanco De Schone Kunsten Galerie, Haarlem The Netherlands

2002 100% of Vision, curated by Anatoly Osmolovsky, Regina Gallery, Moscow Russia

2002 Melioration Contemporary Art Festival, Moscow Russia

2002 Dead or Alive, curated by Suncica Ostoic & Olga Majcen, Art Festival, Zavod k6/4, Ljubljana Slovenia

2002 Unpacked no. 4 New York City

2002 Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now Low Gallery, Los Angeles USA

2002 Sweets New York City USA

2001 Dining Haul : Truck Set for Twelve New York City USA

2001 Workspheres Museum of Modern Art, collaboration with Veronika Georgieva, New York City

2001 White Lights Grote Markt, Haarlem The Netherlands

2000 Downtown Arts Festival New York City USA

2000 Stations Nieuwe Markt, Amsterdam The Netherlands

2000 Art Concern De Schone Kunsten Galerie, Haarlem The Netherlands

1999 Paradise 8, curated by Dominique Nahas, Exit Art, New York City USA

1999 Chocolate Sotheby's Mezzanine Gallery, London England

1998 Chocolate Rochdale Museum , Scotland

1998 Chocolate Summerlee Heritage Centre, Coatbridge Scotland

1998 Chocolate Collins Gallery, Glasgow Scotland *

1997 A Natural Selection Z Gallery, New York City USA *

1997 "Wat af is, is niet gemaakt", De Utrechtse School Utrecht The Netherlands

1996 Proud Flesh De Vishal, Haarlem The Netherlands *

1996 The Invisible Purpose Wax Museum, Moscow Russia

1995 Chocolate! , curated by Carin Kuoni & Ingrid Schaffner, The Swiss Institute, New York City *

1995 Northern Voices: N-Brow Traveling Medicine Show AS 220, Providence Rhode Island USA

1995 Culture, Water and Money the Passion of the Frontier collaboration with Susan Rees, River Pierce Foundation, SanYgnacio USA

1994 Exchange/Datsja Collaboration between Russian & Dutch artists , Amsterdam

1994 Consuming Passions: Food, Art, Culture Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo USA *

1994 Artists’ Congress Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams

1993 Exchange Moscow, curated by Suzanne Oxenaar & Vincent de Boer, Moscow Russia *

* catalog is avalaible

Performances

2004 breakfast of the absent tourist, performed by Michael Leykin, ArtStrelka, Moscow Russia

2002 sleeping leg, Regina Gallery, Moscow Russia

2001 bird'shit, rain and landscape, 31 Grand Gallery, New York City USA

2000 bandaged, Downtown Arts Festival, New York City USA

1999 Clean Puddle, communal house Moscow Russia

1999 Explaining Painting to the Dead Boys, Exit Art/The First World, New York City USA

1997 Accurate - Puncture, De Praktijk Gallery, Amsterdam The Netherlands

1996 Three balls of flesh, L Gallery Moscow Russia

1995 bandaged, City Square SanYgnacio USA

1995 animal fall, Haarlem The Netherlands

1994 the measurable loss of water during a bird’s flight, Flevoland The Netherlands

1993 stippelbeen, various streets, Moscow Russia

Selected Awards and Grants

2004 Travelling Bullet Project, commission from CEC International , USA

1992-98 Stichting Fonds Voor Beeldende Kunsten, The Netherlands.

1995 ArtsLink Grant for Moscow, Russia, Citizen Exchange Council, USA.

1993 Stichting Fonds Voor Beeldende Kunsten, presentation grant Russia

Lectures

2004 Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany

1995 Albany State College, Albany, New York, USA

1994 Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, USA

Collections

Damien Hirst's "murderme" collection

The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland

Mars Contemporary Art Center, Moscow, Russia

Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, USA

Private Collections in Europe and USA

Permanent Public Installations

2001 The Orbitor's Chair, BovenIj Ziekenhuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

1999 The Spoken Word Through Water & Time, Dr. Sarphatihuis Hospital, Amsterdam The Netherlands