Meet Sean Gallagher | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sean Gallagher and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sean, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
Before I start any piece, the voice of artist Pablo Picasso plays in my head, repeating his quote: “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” Everywhere is noise. In front of us, in our pockets, in our ears. Pulling us in different directions, electrifying our attention to the point we only see bright lights and hear the sizzling crackle of signal interference. Picasso’s words, they sing to me because art, whether you’re creating it or enjoying it, dampens the noise enough to give you focus on the here and now. You see the actual world through the curtain of chatter that fogs it over. Art isn’t telling you, it’s showing you what’s out there and giving you space to breathe and room to reach your own conclusions. The noise is abrasive and abusive and subjugates you into believing the loudest producer of the noise. Art is a welcomed silence, an off switch we desperately need these days.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a kid, I had a poster hanging on my bedroom wall of Edward Gorey’s ‘The Gashlycrumb Tinies,’ which helped me learn the alphabet from its morbid rhymes and illustrations, a delightful combination for anyone practicing reading skills with a blossoming macabre sense of humor. The one that stuck with me is for the fourteenth letter, ‘N is for Neville who died of ennui.’ The illustration depicts a small face staring longingly out a gothic window, a haunting image that sparked my curiosity of uncovering what ‘ennui’ meant and how an artist could portray a child succumbing to existential boredom so well. I got hooked on Gorey’s outlook and style and sought out his other works, from his range of cover art for novels to pieces he produced for magazines to books he wrote and drew to watching PBS’ ‘Masterpiece Mystery!’ just to see the animated opening sequence based on his stuff.

Gorey taught me to appreciate the ghoulish side of the everyday and find simplicity in lines and color, which I incorporated into my style as I developed as an artist. Yet I couldn’t rely on the same ghastly wit that defined Gorey’s work. I credit my parents for building an environment that allowed my creative side to flourish. If it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t have started drawing or been introduced to Gorey or stumbled upon the core of my artwork, which I found in the dozens of coffee table books about photography my parents owned. I was drawn to the works of Diane Arbus and Saul Leiter and studied how they composed a shot to reveal beauty in the mundane and the dignity of outsiders. I was especially inspired by the Arbus quote, “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know,” From that, I found that I loved the challenge of making in-between moments picturesque.

So far, this approach has been successful.

Recently, I was selected for the Under the Radar series, which celebrates the top 10 undiscovered artist in the lowcountry by Charleston Magazine. My art has also been featured or is slated to appear in several publications:

Allegory Ridge

The Closed Eye Open

Passengers Journal

Vineyard Literary

Red Ogre Review

Liminal Spaces

Beaver Magazine

Fauxmoir Literary Magazine

Quarter Press

High Shelf Press

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I enjoy Folly Beach for is white sand beaches, easy break, and relaxed atmosphere.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I owe a lot of my success to my family for giving me reasons to keep creating.

Website: www.skgcreative.com

Instagram: @the_ridden_word

Image Credits
Sean Gallagher