Shayne O'Donnell

Constant Keening to Whispered Laments

17 - 28 September 2025

Opening Night

Friday 19 September

6 - 8 pm

G2

Artist Statement

The gestural manner reflects a fall

A death in a moment

Hand and mind in motion

Both tender and abrupt

A constant keening gives way to whispers laments

As fruit dries and fades

In recent years I have been exploring a variety of natural pigments. At times using extracts from organic materials alongside traditional mediums.

The fragility and temporality of these pigments offer an aesthetic and conceptual response to ideas of impermanence and transmutation that centrally inform this body of work. Death and loss are embodied in the unpredictability of materials. Captured movement holds memory, while ritualised grief takes the form of mark making.

These large works on paper are in essence a memento mori. From their vivid beginnings to their inevitable fading, they are a documentation of process.

Artist Biography

Shayne O’Donnell is a practicing artist from Western Australia, currently living and working in Naarm, Melbourne. O’Donnell graduated from Curtin University with a Masters in 2011, and has shown in art institutions such as PICA and John Curtin Gallery.  o’Donnell has work held in multiple private collections as well as Artbank. 

Contact
Phone : (03) 9482 3550
mail@redgallery.com.au

Address
157 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North, Victoria, 3068
Map

How to get here
Tram: Route 11
Stop 21 just north of Edinburgh Gardens

Melway Ref: 30B12
Parking in nearby streets

Bus: 504 (Reid Street)