Shawn grew up a farm boy in upstate NY, where he lived with very supportive parents & three equally creative younger brothers. His interest in art began as soon as he was old enough to hold a pencil, sometimes spending hours indoors creating entire worlds of fantasy, complete with creatures of all shapes, sizes and demeanors. At around 9yrs old, he watched a turkey get it’s head chopped off for the first time. A truly defining moment for the impressionable, young artist. After high school he went on to study art at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he was introduced to the art of Caravaggio, Monet, Rauschenberg, Bacon & Pollock, to name a few, whose work planted the seeds for what eventually developed into the iconic, pop approach to his subject matter.

After serving in the Army as an infantry sergeant, his reluctance to "get a real job" led him to a tattoo apprenticeship in 1991. Almost from the start he began to amass awards, magazine coverage & a large following. Working in the tattoo industry has further helped him to develop a more illustrative approach to his art, the ability to convey a message in a single image. It also proved to be a front row seat to the varied psyches and personalities of a huge cross section of society at its best and worst, helping him to be officially deemed a “cynic”.

All the while he has continued to paint & develop his style and technique as well as a definition to his impetus for art. He has always been drawn to the evils of man as a subject matter, whether it be religion, politics, or just scary folks doing scary shit, he has continually explored the dark side of man in his work. A large influence in his work has been the pop culture from growing up at the tail end of the atomic age and all of the wonderfully terrifying images implanted by the great movies and television at that time.
“Art is Power… so is a well placed bullet to the back of the skull.”

Shawn Conn interviewed by Dave Styer / ARTCOTIC.

ARTCOTIC: I see that you grew up as a farm boy. Well so did I, and I’ve a lot of very interesting stories about that time in my life. I’m sure you do as well? How about you tell us about one of those farm boy moments?

SHAWN: Wow! One story…Shit! There are so many, but I have to say, the one that sticks out as the most memorable is one of the times we helped my dad slaughter a turkey. Whenever my dad would go for the meat cleaver in the mud room, my brother Mike and I would start arguing about who’s turn it was to hold the feet and who was gonna hold the body. Dad would tie off the feet, so that was the easy job, holding those. Holding the body was another story. Turkey’s are big, heavy and their feather’s are razor sharp, plus you mind was always trying to frantically determine just how good dad was with that cleaver.

Anyway, the idea was, we hold on, dad does the deed, we continue to hold on ‘til the bird was dead…completely. We never did. This particular time Mike was smug, for being able to hold the feet, cause dad said it was my turn to hold the body. It seems like an eternity waiting to hear that thunk, but as soon as it came, we let go, the turkey, now headless, starts flapping and heads straight for my smug brother. He shrieks and starts running, headless turkey in tow, straight for (no shit) my mothers freshly hung, white sheets. My father and I are laughing our asses off as it seems this zombie bird is actually chasing my brother in circles, through mom’s laundry and she comes out screaming to kill it, to which my father replies, “Again?”. Thanksgiving‘s are great when you grow up on a farm, aren‘t they?

ARTCOTIC: Your Bio states that when you were a child you’d sit down for hours and draw entire fantasy worlds. I think that’s F#*@ing rad! Does that influence your art now, and do you still have some of those fantasy worlds kicking around?

SHAWN: My mother keeps telling me to come over and get my art in their attic, that I’ll be surprised at what’s up there, so I’m thinking there’s gotta be a couple of shawnville’s still floating around.

I think the way I used to build those worlds and their denizens up, is still the way I create today. I would have entire dialogues in my head between creatures as I was drawing them, as well as a godlike discourse going on in there about their attributes and places in those mythical societies. I still do that today when I’m painting, or designing. Especially when it comes to determining a title for a piece. That’s why some of them end up with $5.00 titles.

ARTCOTIC: Working as a tattoo artist can be very challenging, IE….”Can you give me a beautiful dolphin right here in the small of my back?” What’s the craziest tattoo you’ve done for someone? And, are you still working in that industry or are you a full time artist?

SHAWN: I’m still in it two days a week. My demand has been so great over the past few years and I’ve got so many big projects started on people, that I couldn’t just walk away from it, in good conscience. Besides taking too much time away from my art, it was wrecking my body. My back, shoulders and hands were all suffering as well as the typical tattoo diet, consisting of grease with a side order of fried grease, super sized. Like a lot of former tattooists, like Mike Giant, Chris Conn Askew (not sure if we’re related, or not), I’m heading towards full time artist before I can’t even hold a pencil.

As far as the craziest tattoo I’ve ever done? They’re all crazy these days, but the most notable, by far, has to be the penis. This goth kid came to me one day and asked if I would tattoo his penis. I thought, you know what? Sure. I didn’t wanna retire and say I hadn’t tattooed everything, so let’s do it! Besides, how hard could it be? Ha, fuckin, Ha!

He had the idea of these tribal “arrows” down the sides of his shaft and runes down the top. A little nervous now. I sent him down to the bathroom with a penthouse, so we could get the stencils on straight. Seeing him come back through the shop, porn and falling pants in hand, almost made it worth it. He was getting soft before he even got back up to my booth and having the ex-army sgt, man’s man tattooist re-enacting some bizarre prison shower ritual, finished it, which made putting the stencils on impossible. There were purple lines everywhere. Out comes the sharpie. So now there were purple lines and squiggly red lines everywhere, makin’ it look like this kid was about to get the vasectomy from hell.

The whole time I was doing the tattoo, it was flopping all over the place as I’m praying the lines are straight and what the hell was I thinking?! I didn’t need to do this! Who cares if I didn’t tattoo everything before I retire?! I finished it, gave him his lollipop and sent him on his way, sure that the first girl he showed it to was gonna ask him why he got a roadmap of Rhode Island tattooed on his Johnson? Amazingly, he relayed to me some weeks later, they were straight… as arrows! It was the first and last penis I will ever tattoo.

ARTCOTIC: Looking over the masses of work that I can find online, I see that you are interested in 2012! Better known as the apocalypse! Zombies, and other subject matter, which is in the same vein. Are you obsessed with the destruction of the human race, or is that just how your art manifests itself?

SHAWN: I think man’s mortality, both individually and collectively, is something humanity has always been obsessed with and throughout history, artisans and clerics have tried to make sense of the fear and wonder surrounding that obsession. Whether it be an antichrist, a super volcano, changing climate, our sun going super nova, a massive asteroid, or yes, a zombie Armageddon, it’s going to happen. We ARE all going to perish on this planet at some point.

My observation, through my work, is the absurdity that humanity has become in the face of this inevitability. The constant struggle for power, money and territory has given way, even to our most basic reason for being… continuation of the species. In the thousands of years of evolution we’ve gone through, we’re still animals and we treat one another like it. In fact, I think the progression of technology, has made it worse, as well as the liberal backfire of political correctness. Now people are being told how to act towards one another, when the basic evolutionary process hasn’t even caught up to support the ideals. People’s basic instinct of “kill, or be killed” is actually being intensified by trying to fit all the round pegs into one square hole. Add in the impersonality of advancing technology and increasingly lax liberal standards for morality and decency and you’ve got the recipe for Armageddon.

ARTCOTIC: Have you seen Zombie Strippers? If so, did you like it? If not, what’s your favorite Zombie flick and why?

SHAWN: No, I haven’t, but it’s on the list! Zombie Jenna Jameson? Gotta see that! I’m trying to amass the largest collection of zombie flicks known to man.

It’s hard to pick a favorite, I love them all. Even the horrible “House of the Dead”, but I have to say it’s a tie between Romero’s “Land of the Dead” and the 2004 remake of “Dawn of the Dead” (sorry George).

ARTCOTIC: If you had a choice between the new modern day “fast” zombie, and the classic “slow” zombie which would you choose to be and why?

SHAWN: As far as watching them, the “fast” zombies make a zombie flick much more exciting. If a zombie Armageddon was really happening? Definitely “slow”.

ARTCOTIC: I can see that you work in a plethora of mediums. Tell us about your favorites?

SHAWN: I primarily work in acrylic on canvas these days. A big influence on my work is Robert Rauschenberg, so a lot of my earlier work was comprised of 3D elements. Things like animal skulls, crosses, masks, I used a ton of latex as well. I love graphite and marker too, especially for my design work, as well as photoshop. And of course, we can’t forget tattoo ink!

ARTCOTIC: As a music nerd, I’m very interested in what other people/artists/musicians are listening to. Tell us about your favorite groups/bands and what they do for you during your creative process.

SHAWN: Ugh! I’ve been dreading this question. After I answer this one, my friends and family are gonna have plenty of fodder. I listen to almost everything when I’m creating. It depends on my mood and the mood I’m trying to set up for a particular piece. It kinda goes back to the fantasy worlds from being a kid and the atmosphere surrounding them.

I listen to everything from Marilyn Manson, Slayer, The Misfits, Rob Zombie and the like to I Monster, Brian Eno, Enya, Sweet, Concrete Blonde and Holly Golightly. Throw in classical, like Berlioz, Wagner and Pachelbel and then add (here’s where I catch hell) dance techno and 80’s new wave. I was in my late teens and early twenties through the 80’s and I can’t let it go, but the dance music is a guilty pleasure. A lot of times when I’m painting, the energy build up is so great, I kinda do a “dance” as I’m creating and dance music is the perfect vehicle for it. Even better… dance remixes of new wave tunes. Man, my brother’s are gonna have a field day with this one.

ARTCOTIC: I see that you’ve quite a few flash (tattoo) designs out there. Do you think this ol’ school style is making a comeback?

SHAWN: Everything will always cycle in and out of popularity in tattooing and ol’ school is no different. Within each style of tattooing, you will always have people dedicated to that particular style, that help to keep the style alive (and the artists that specialize in it), but unless you’ve really made a name for yourself, an artist that specializes runs the risk of going broke in a style’s downtime.

About 5yrs into tattooing, I realized it wasn’t just this thing I was doing and I needed to make a living at it, in order to support my family. In an economically depressed area, like Rochester, you can’t ask for the prices a lot of other big city’s artists do, so I saw the way to combat that as being able to tattoo everything. Over the years, I’ve become known for my black and grey, portraits and twisted shit, but people come to me for everything. I can afford to be a bit more choosey now, but I still tattoo tribal, hearts and roses and even the occasional kanji. It keeps me grounded to my customers and keeps me remembering who it is that helped me get to where I am today. Too many tattooists today forget what they are and who pays their bills. Old time tattooist Bill Loika put it best to me and a fellow artist once, “All we are is carneys, putting silly pictures on silly people for way too much money.”

ARTCOTIC: Essay section: Topic: Art and the future. (Hey Shawn, I just wanted to give you the op to talk about whatever you chose, so change that topic if you want to.)

SHAWN: The line between art and culture has always been a blurry one, but I think it’s become even blurrier in the last few years. The advent of Lowbrow and the proliferation of Outsider Art to the forefront of the art world is bringing down the last of the barriers between the common man and the fine art world. It’s like tattooing, in a way. People who couldn’t afford a Picasso, or Monet, could afford a tattoo, and it’s becoming the same way with the direction mainstream art is taking.

What Pop Art started, Outsider and Lowbrow are finishing. My worry, however, is that, like Pop Art, the “ fine art powers that be”, will grab ahold of these new art forms and propel them and their prices back into the unreachable regions for common man. To be my own devil’s advocate though, maybe common man isn’t meant to have more than prints or posters of what the elite can possess. We are, after all, only as capable as our evolutionary level allows and I like money.

ARTCOTIC: We were very excited about your ARTCOTIC logo; it’s been a fantastic piece to add to our inventory. We’re also very excited about your new piece “YOWZA” what thoughts were running through your head as you decided to design something so timeless and classic?

SHAWN: What hit me with the theme, was “classic”. After I did my first couple designs, it kinda just hit me that classic should be classic. There’s nothing more classic, or old school than the wolf whistle. I’ll bet the cavemen were doing it back when the ladies were takin’ dips down at the lagoon. When you think about it, the most “classic” reason we exist, is for gettin it on, thank you Barry White!!

ARTCOTIC: Hey, Shawn thank you for your time! We can’t wait to see what the future holds for Shawn Conn, barring the Apocalypse of course!

For more information on Shawn Conn please visit his website: shawnconnart.net or his myspace page: www.myspace.com/shawnconn.