Shannon Keller

My work focuses on the balance between fragility and strength, the mind/body disconnect, or more succinctly our stuffing and its casing. I use personal iconography to reinterpret the 'anatomy' of my characters and create allegory. Based on simple, intimate and immediate means, I address and interweave: internal with external; physical with metaphysical; individual with collective. I simultaneously cloak and reveal the body, playing with psycho-biological imagery, the inner on the outer, the stained and subtle interplay between parts, internal and external.The subjects of my drawings have little or no context; they exist within unknown territories.


I earned a BFA in Drawing from Pratt Institute and an MFA in New Genres from San Francisco Art Institute. While I have explored various media I always find myself coming back to pencil on paper and love its immediacy and simplicity.
I currently live and works in Los Angeles with my husband and two daughters, who provide endless inspiration.

MFA New Genres 1999
San Francisco Art Institute

BFA Drawing 1994
Pratt Institute