Today we’d like to introduce you to Shawn Kolodny.
Shawn, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I am 47. Closer to 50 than 40. I have chosen to start my life over. I spent the first half of my life in the hospitality business, as the owner and operator of high end nightclubs in New York City and around the globe. Though my education was art adjacent (industrial design), I ended up as more of an entrepreneur.
I recently made the choice to take a new path. I decided that I wanted, no, needed to be an artist. It is what I love to do. Just to be clear, it is not like I have retired and decided to paint my later years away, I am figuring out how to make a living just making and selling art. I have no idea what I am doing, and that’s ok. I am doing it anyway. The goal is to learn and figure it out every day. Create more work, meet more people, and hopefully sell enough to live.
I don’t know why I waited so long to live out this dream. I was making art my whole life. Just a lack of seriousness and focus. I never owned it. I guess the difference between having a hobby or going pro. I was always scared of the rejection, I was scarred no one would like, buy, care, for my work. Turns out not to be the case. I can get upset at myself that I waited this long to make the choice, or I can just get to work and make sure the next 20 years are prolific, Create so much work that people just assume that I have always been an artist. Rewrite history with my future. Tell the story I want to tell.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I have seen it all. Drawing from a life spent amongst substance abuse, addiction and materialism, as the owner and operator of New York City’s most prominent nightclubs, I have been both the observer and the subject, and see addiction as a pathological relationship in which things replace self.
My work confronts the cycle of fake fulfillment shaped by society’s addiction to consumerism, using the most sought-after brands and the most addictive drugs as a visual medium.
My art takes many forms, Silkscreen, paintings, Sculptures, and installations.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
Art often tells a story. Artists just choose a visual medium to tell it. Current events often effect my work, most recently the opioid crisis has entered my work. I wanted to make a statement with my United States of Opioids street art installation. My small effort to bring attention to a large problem.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work is easily found on Instagram @shawnkolodny,
on my website shawnkolodny.com
and at the following galleries
Oliver Cole, Miami
Directed Modern, Miami
The Art Plug, Miami
Aced Gallery, New Jersy
Imitate Modern, London
So-Posh, St Tropez
Celebrity Vault, LA
Contact Info:
- Address: 98 Riverside Dr
New York, NY 10024 - Website: www.shawnkolodny.com
- Phone: 9176012660
- Email: shawnkolodny@gmail.com
- Instagram: @shawnkolodny
- Facebook: shawnkolodny
- Twitter: shawnkolodny
Image Credit:
Shawn Kolodny
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
