With this exhibit is marked the emergence of one of the most gifted draftsmen the Bay Area has seen in some time. O’Shaughnessy’s total output to date has been drawings, drawings which are intensely involved emotional experiences. Trapped people, depressed people, soggy and depraved people, vivacious people, haunted people, all are woven into the fabric of these drawings.
O’Shaughnessy’s approach to drawing falls roughly into two categories. The first is the instant approach; i.e., he will sketch from a given person in a public place as the subject walks, or lifts a glass, or gestures. All must be captured in a fleeting moment. The direct motion of the artist must reflect the direct motion of the unsuspecting model. The second approach feeds off the first. The drawings done in public places are brought back to the studio and pushed further, re-worked and perhaps, even destroyed. From the overworking or “killing” of these drawings come fresh ideas gained in the process of forcing pictorial issues. A series of reclining female nudes is the result of this second type of engagement. Between twenty-five and thirty large drawings, each unique because of O’Shaughnessy’s constant probing and re-evaluation of the single basic pose, comprise the high point of this show. Re-use of the one pose allows him the freedom to reinvent whole areas within the general structure of the model’s body. The resultant series of work not only advances O’Shaughnessy’s development but gives this region a new graphic artist of very high quality.
—James Monte
