I chose to draw the black plastic trash bags as much for aesthetic reasons as for the contents or connotations the materials may carry.  Formally, there is a palpable tension between representation and abstraction in the work, as the folds in the plastic and the light and shadow shapes assume an almost portrait-like presence in each piece, invoking Rorschach.  For me, the work raises some metaphysical questions about the visible versus the hidden and the valuable versus the disposable in art and a broader cultural context.  Drawing from observation is the most direct way for me to conduct such a material and conceptual conversation with the viewer.

born:1981, Springfield, MO

education:

Southern Illinois University Carbondale, MFA, 2006
Washington University (St. Louis), BFA, 2003

selected awards/honors

Artist-in-Residence, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Wendover, UT, 2011
Juried into Curated Artist Image Registry, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
Visual Arts Fellowship, Wyoming Arts Council, 2010
Basic Research Grant, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

selected publications

International Drawing Annual 5; Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center, Cincinnatti, OH, 2010
Shaped / Pause: Contemporary Still Life; Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center, Cincinnatti, OH, 2009
Fairfield, Douglas. "An Exhibition of Convoyeurs." Santa Fe New Mexican Pasatiempo; cover image / pp. 34-35, September 18 - 24, 2009
Sardy, Marin. "True West: David Jones and Shelby Shadwell." THE Magazine; p. 41, November, 2009

selected solo or two-person exhibits

222 Shelby Street Gallery: True West, Santa Fe, NM, 2009

selected group shows

333 Montezuma Annex: Big Paper, Santa Fe, NM, 2011
333 Montezuma Annex: Westwork, Santa Fe, NM, 2010
University of North Carolina: Drawing Discourse, Asheville, NC, 2010
Cole Art Center, Stephen F. Austin State University: Texas National, Nacogdoches, TX, 2009