IC Interview: Shawn Campbell

n a series of interviews with Idea Capital grant winners, we reached out to sculptor Shawn Campbell about his work. Referencing the American flag and Frederic Remington’s “Bronco Buster” bronze sculpture in the Oval Office, Campbell forces us to examine and interrogate icons of American values we might normally just accept as natural.

Where were you born?

Akron, Ohio

What are your favorite materials to work with?

Plywood, Archived materials

What is your motivating factor in creating artistic work?

Discovery and research

What do you like most about the art that you make?

It allows me to work through and learn about complex systems that envolve aspects of everyday life.

Who are your influences?

Lygia Clark, Cady Noland, Donald Judd, Oleg Kulik

The first art you saw that informed your practice and let you know this was a possibility to become an artist?

Raised by wolves - Jim Goldberg

What do you feel you are trying to communicate with your work?

A open way of looking and researching.

As an artist, do you think your work is political?

Yes

What is the connection between protest and art-making?

A platform to present ones ideas and beliefs.

What was the seminal experience that got you to the work you are making now?

The exploration of American football and its involvement within US culture.

What are you working on currently? 

I am exploring the myth of the American cowboy.

What would be a meaningful way for Idea Capital to support your practice in these current events?

Not sure how to do this, but a way in which artists can meet and communicate. As an artist it's not hard to quarantine in the studio making work but what seems to be lost is the conversations around art that would happen outside of the studio.