Favorite Strangers

Artist Statement

Faces, bodies, costumes, and consumer products flash like simultaneous slide shows in my mind.  With celebrity idolatry and the nostalgia of toys, this exhibition is an ongoing attempt of compartmentalized identity construction in a media-saturated and hyper-consumeristic culture by means of the compacted images and objects inside and outside of my life. The physical process of painting is my way of reinterpreting these untouchable human icons and giving them the gravity that has been taken away by the pixilation of the camera, television, social media, and A.I. In addition, the paintings of toys are celebrations of plastic objects in the likenesses of beloved fictional heroes/villains. Recontextualizing these subjects, I see myself both physically and psychologically. I am the person partially formed by the unification of icons, the person whose reality is referenced by memory, consumerism, and nostalgic tendencies.

Shannon Riddle is representational/figurative artist from Macon, GA.  He draws from a wide array of artistic influences, from master painters such as Caravaggio, John Singer Sargent, and Vincent van Gogh, to modern artists such as Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol, to contemporary artists Lucian Freud and Jenny Saville.

Subject matter ranges from the familiar to the esoteric, but Shannon considers it all personal, and suggests that the works seek an intersection among art history, process, expression, and nostalgia.  Currently, the content of his paintings focus on the phenomenon of fandom and fan culture, particularly the way in which his own fandom has influenced his identity formation – for better or for worse, as his interest in fandom led to a pursuit into media portrayals of both celebrated and infamous figures, fictional and non-fictional.

Riddle received his BFA in Painting at the University of Georgia and his MFA in Painting at SCAD-Atlanta. He currently is a member of the Ocmulgee Artist Guild (formed by his former art students) and serves as Assistant Professor of Art at Middle Georgia State University in Macon, GA.

While in graduate school, Shannon was volunteered to complete a painting for the celebrated Festival of Trees because of his mastery of the painting discipline and was awarded a partial scholarship for a residency at the Vermont Studio Center (He was unable to attend because he was offered his first teaching position of his career, which would have overlapped his time at the residency). In addition, he was nominated for SCAD’s Presidential Award. In 2018, Shannon was awarded the Featured Artist in Residence title for the year at the Ampersand Artist Guild in Macon, GA.  Under this title, Riddle assisted in and curated his own group exhibitions, including one exclusively for his Painting I students, participated in live painting events, taught several demos and workshops, and ended the residency with his solo exhibition featuring the work created that year. In 2020, Shannon was nominated for the Excellence in Teaching Award at Middle Georgia State University, which encompasses all academic departments of the institution.