Don't Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story

The intent of my work is two fold. First, I hope to initially attract and ideally seduce, as well as engage the viewer with surface, color, and beautiful and interesting objects. The tone of my work is often at first glance innocent and cheerful. Second, what follows this initial reception of a playful, nearly saccharine veneer is a deeper invitation into a strangely constructed world. The viewer is caught between a delight in the fantastic and a sense of unease or menace. The animal motifs I employ in the work, often times emphasizes the idea of the animal kingdom rather than actual wildlife. My art works to balance between the whimsical, the grotesque, and the commonplace. I hope to skew perspective and I seek to reintroduce the strangeness and complexity associated with childhood and memory without projecting directly onto the specific.

About Maureen Shields: Maureen relocated to San Francisco from New York City 5 years ago. She has been cutting up vintage magazines ever since. She carefully cuts up vintage photos, advertisements, and decorative paper, sometimes over 50 years old, where she combines her collage process with drawing and painting. She recontextualizes imagery of a past life giving them a new life by way of storytelling. Maureen lives in San Francisco and works out of her studio in Alameda, CA.