David Shanahan is a well established painter whose work is highly collectable ( David Bowie, Sir Ben Kingsley, Lord Bath, Lord Sawyer own his work) His paintings are in private collections in Eire, USA, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Canada, Japan and Australia, Lord Sawyer. Almost exclusively he paints in oil. David was born and raised in Southern Ireland, although he has lived most of his adult life in Devon and Cornwall. Despite these influences, it is an Irish sensibility that motivates the subject matter of his work.
The natural tension between Christian and Pagan, Myth and Reality, Past versus Present, provides him with rich material – as Catholic Church – with tales of repressed sexuality, angels and resurrection – combines with earthy peasant tales of ghosts, talking birds and horned men. Fortunately for us the deep impressions made on David as a boy continue to inform his work, giving it a vitality – an iconic feast of humorous subject matter for the viewer to delight in.
David studied Painting at Kingston School of Art, and later at Dartington College of Art.