Shawn Camp grew up in Coeur dʼAlene, Idaho and completed an MFA in Painting and Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University. He then set out exploring, art-making, and exhibiting throughout the United States and abroad as an artist and musician. He settled in Austin, Texas where he is a member of the ICOSA artist collective and Professor of Painting at Austin Community College.

His works have been shown in the United States and internationally and are included in numerous public and private collections. He has been awarded artist residencies in the United States and Iceland and his work has been reviewed in Glasstire, The Austin American Statesman and The Austin Chronicle. His large-scale works have been commissioned for the City of Houston, Texas A&M University, Raymond James and a host of other institutions. Shawn’s paintings, videos and sound pieces exploit the effects of context and light on our perception - contrasting the ephemeral nature of awareness with the illusion of constancy.

"Camp makes paintings, videos, light and sound pieces that explore the boundary between the physical and the transcendent. My recent acrylic paintings suggest air and space; imagery devoid of solid forms. That nothingness is framed through subtle geometric divisions and contradictory hints of color. Through translucence and refraction, the shimmering surfaces convey a sense of atmosphere and explore the mystery of light, matter, and space.

The back-lit mixed media paintings vacillate between transparency and opacity. In darkness, the physicality of the opaque white paint surrenders to the immateriality of translucent light. The prominent surface is simultaneously a solid wall and an innuendo of expanse opening fictively beyond.