Stephen J Shanabrook (born 1965 in Cleveland, USA) is an American conceptual artist, who lives and works in New York City and Moscow, Russia. He graduated from Syracuse University, The Skowhegan School of Art program, USA and de Ateliers, The Netherlands.
Stephen J Shanabrook first became well known for making special kinds of chocolate pralinés from casts of wounds on dead bodies from morgues in Russia and North America.[1] Son of an obstetrician and the town coroner, as a child Shanabrook worked at a chocolate factory in a small town in Ohio. Overlapping these oppositional influences the artist created a unique vision of beauty, one on the threshold of death, pain and disaster. Shanabrook gives a new and often disturbing meaning to substances and forms otherwise associated with comfort, happiness and banality. His most recent chocolate pieces was a life size cast of the remnants of an 18 year old suicide bomber. [2] "By molding chocolates on the wounds on the corpses, Shanabrook tries to supplement the horrific image of the wounds with the seductive smell of the chocolates. And from the responses he gets from the public, it seems that the more people observe the pralinés, the more they forget about the fact that they are molded on the corpses, and give in to the enjoyment of the smell." - states Renata Salecl in her Athens Biennale lecture. In his work Shanabrook often deals with the subject of addiction, actual or metaphoric. [3] His book "Chasing the Dragon"[4] takes its name from slang phrase of Cantonese origin referring to inhaling the smoke from heated morphine or heroin.
Stephen J Shanabrook has shown his works worldwide, including such a venues as Moscow Biennale, The State Tretyakov Gallery and Wax Museum in Moscow; MoMA, MOCA, Drawing Center, Swiss Institute, Exit Art, Artists Space and Anthology Film Archives in New York; Sotheby’s Mezzanine Gallery in London and Rochdale Museum in Scotland; CAN, Contemporary Art Center and Musee d'art et d'histoire in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Shanabrook's works include in many private collections in USA, Europe and Russia as well as in collection of professional gambler turned most provocative collector David Walsh [5], in his Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)[6] in Tasmania, Australia. As well as in collections of The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia; Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Poland; Mars Contemporary Art Center, Moscow, Russia and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, USA. His work L.O.V.E. as a List Of Vicarious Edges [7] is a part of Damien Hirst "murderme" collection. Fashion Label Comme des Garçons used images of "Paper Surgery" [8] Project by Stephen J Shanabrook and Veronika Georgieva for their ad campaign Spring/Summer 2010 [9]. As a duo Stephen J Shanabrook and Veronika Georgieva together with Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency created ad campaign for 25th anniversary of Reporters Without Borders in 2010 [10], which included TV commercial [11]. The campaign was shortlisted for Lion award at Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival [12].
1. Artist's Web page http://www.stephenshanabrook.com/
2. Drawing Center catalog [13]
3. Chocolate Suicide Bomber [14]
4."Chasing the Dragon" catalog on Amazon [15]
5. Catalog with Olga Chernysheva [16]
6. "The Aesthetics of Terror" catalog on Amazon [17]
7. Books with essays about Stephen J Shanabrook: On Anxiety, Renata Salecl [18], Extreme Bodies: The Use and Abuse of the Body in Art, Francesca Alfano Miglietti [19], Umbr(a): Incurable [20], Zeichen der Psyche [21]
8. In New York Times [22]
9. Villager review [23]
10. Eat Me Daily [24]
11. Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brusseles [25]
12. Charlotte Moser, Geneva [26]
13. Daneyal Mahmood, New York [27]
14. Orel Art, Paris/London [28]
15. Reporters Without Borders ad campaign [29], [30]
16. guardian.co.uk [31]
18. W magazine [33]
19. Financial Times [34]