We Were Never Really Strangers
Brendan O’Shaughnessy, MFA 2024, Fiber and Material Studies
My practice is driven by concerns of climate change, technoscience, and luxury consumerism. Why do we seek pleasure at the expense of ethics? How do we perceive what is ‘natural’ and what is ‘artificial’ in our increasingly troubled world? Drawing references from haute couture, industrial livestock production, body modification, and the Catholic Eucharist, I propose new ecologies that transgress the binaries between ‘nature’ and ‘artifice’, human and nonhuman, and host and parasite. With works that span the senses of taste, smell, and sight, my projects invite viewers to indulge in these ecologies. Made with edible materials such as gelatin and glycerin, as well as petrochemicals, intestinal submucosa, and satin, my sculptures are imbued with perverse beauty. Eliciting attraction and aversion, my works reflect our multifaceted concept of body as it relates race, gender, sexuality, technology, and species. My most recent exhibition, We Have Never Been Strangers, embodies and expands the unsettling ecologies that have emerged from the colonial desire for domination over ‘nature’ and the capitalist pursuit of beauty.
![Installation view, mixed media.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/ae71ab99-26d9-42b0-8403-0309f5059d72/O%27Shaughnessy_01.jpeg)
Installation view, mixed media. Photo credit: Neighboring States
![Installation view, mixed media.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/3d73ac44-5b9f-4fe8-bf55-eec5be8616a7/O%27Shaughnessy_02.jpeg)
Installation view, mixed media. Photo credit: Neighboring States
![Installation view, mixed media.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/0dd93ad5-747f-4f16-9c11-424adac76256/O%27Shaughnessy_03.jpeg)
Installation view, mixed media. Photo credit: Neighboring States
!["exuviae / gown," gelatin, glycerin.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/6fbeb291-abf9-41f0-af8a-4a5d10d8c9c5/O%27Shaughnessy_04.jpeg)
"exuviae / gown," gelatin, glycerin. Photo credit: Neighboring States
!["implant bloom / jelly ridge," gelatin, glycerin, soy wax, satin, muslin, steel, wood.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/bd6b559a-d362-4a43-8f4a-04eb9f40221f/O%27Shaughnessy_05.jpeg)
"implant bloom / jelly ridge," gelatin, glycerin, soy wax, satin, muslin, steel, wood. Photo credit: Neighboring States
!["untitled," intestinal submucosa, pearls, gelatin, glycerin, glass.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/60fb07aa-6d6a-43a1-82d8-29ff2e1e190a/O%27Shaughnessy_06.jpeg)
"untitled," intestinal submucosa, pearls, gelatin, glycerin, glass. Photo credit: Neighboring States
![Installation view, mixed media.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/d0ab1ff4-933a-4c70-96f2-51dab647c1bb/O%27Shaughnessy_07.jpeg)
Installation view, mixed media. Photo credit: Neighboring States
!["rapunzel!," gelatin, glycerin, epoxy resin, fluoropolymer, paper clay, aluminum filament.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/31cbb870-4221-4ac3-8888-ad844268164d/O%27Shaughnessy_08.jpeg)
"rapunzel!," gelatin, glycerin, epoxy resin, fluoropolymer, paper clay, aluminum filament. Photo credit: Neighboring States
!["exuviae / gown" (detail), gelatin, glycerin.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/27a9c3a4-b0ae-46a2-9c2c-75f5ced44fcb/O%27Shaughnessy_09.jpeg)
"exuviae / gown" (detail), gelatin, glycerin. Photo credit: Neighboring States
!["rapunzel!" (detail), gelatin, glycerin, epoxy resin, fluoropolymer, paper clay, aluminum filament.
Photo credit: Neighboring States](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3c104daf9e6f2b7d93ecc0/f4382785-a2a9-46f5-b883-bb4681099c15/O%27Shaughnessy_10.jpeg)
"rapunzel!" (detail), gelatin, glycerin, epoxy resin, fluoropolymer, paper clay, aluminum filament. Photo credit: Neighboring States
Brendan O’Shaughnessy
Brendan O’Shaughnessy (b. 1999) is a Chicago-based sculptor and researcher driven by concerns of climate change, genetic engineering, industrial extraction, and luxury consumerism. With an expansive material approach, his sculptures question what is ‘natural’ and what is ‘artificial’ in our increasingly troubled world.
O’Shaughnessy has exhibited his work in institutions in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Maximiliansforum in Munich, Germany. O’Shaughnessy has been featured on TextileArtist.org, an online space dedicated to contemporary fiber and textile art.
He received his MFA in Fiber and Material Studies at the Tyler School of Art + Architecture in 2024.
-
Instagram: @brendan_oshaughnessy