As a painter, Shannon Bonatakis seeks to create emotionally charged visual stories that convey authentic emotional moments. The female form is a consistent focus of her work, largely due to her life experiences growing up in a family of seven sisters and one brother. Her imagery is often autobiographical in some capacity, but is deliberately open for the viewer to find their own story within. Shannon's pieces live in that weird dreamy space between waking and sleeping, where the melancholy of real life mixes with a dash of magic.
Shannon has a particular obsession with storytelling, preferring the fantastical people and pictures from books as a lens to view our reality. She is fascinated by dreams, where the magical and the absurd are commonplace, and draws inspiration from these fleeting glimpses of an alternate reality that comes from within. Shannon has sought to replicate this same sense of fantastical realism from the first time she created art as a child.
As an illustrator, Shannon's work has been featured primarily in children’s publishing and in galleries celebrating beloved pieces of pop-culture. Beside the aesthetic that is unmistakably hers, she also works in a variety of techniques and styles as a freelance commercial illustrator. In this realm she has worked on projects ranging from character design to package illustration, for clients as large as Disney and Mattel. While Shannon enjoys the challenge of nearly all forms of image making, she finds herself beckoned to her easel nightly to paint with absurdly tiny brushes until the sun rises.
Shannon learned to focus her love of all things fictional and imaginative while studying illustration and painting at Columbus College of Art & Design. Since then, she has found success as a commercial illustrator while maintaining a career as a painter, and showing in art galleries across the United States. Shannon currently resides in Denver, Colorado with her husband, fellow artist Josh Holland, and their part black lab, part dachshund, part dragon puppy, Enid Coleslaw.
Select Clients:
Disney, LucasFilm, Disney-Hyperion, Race Point Publishing, Mattel, Hot Topic, Live Nation, Running Press Kids, Hasbro, Hodder Children's Books, Penguin Books
Past Shows:
2021 -
September 2021 - "New Life" Solo Show by Shannon Bonatakis - Haven Gallery; Northport, NY
2018 -
August 2018 - "Keep Magic Alive" Solo Show by Shannon Bonatakis - Haven Gallery; Northport, NY
2017 -
October 2017 - "Hauntings" Solo Works by Shannon Bonatakis - Gallery1988; Los Angeles, CA
2016 -
December 2016 - "Little Big II" Group Show - Haven Gallery; Northport, NY
October 2016 - "Crazy for Cult 10" Group Show - Gallery1988 West; Los Angeles, CA
July 2016 - "Before This All Fades Away" Featured Artist Group Show - Sally Centigrade Gallery; Denver, CO
June 2016 - "La Lune" Group Show - Haven Gallery; Northport, NY
May 2016 - Disney's "Alice Through The Looking Glass" Art Showcase, Group Show - Hero Complex Gallery; Los Angeles, CA
2015 -
December 2015 - Disney's Wonderground Gallery Show with Artist Signing and Appearance -
WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney® District at the Disneyland® Resort; Anaheim, CA
November 2015 - "Little Big" Group Show - Haven Gallery; Northport, NY
November 2015 - "Crazy 4 Cult 9" Group Show - Gallery1988 West; Los Angeles, CA
November 2015 - "Art Awakens: A Force for Change" Group Show and Auction for Charity, in collaboration with Disney, LucasFilm, Gallery1988, and eBay - Gallery1988 West; Los Angeles, CA
June 2015 - Two Person Show with Audrey Pongracz - Gallery1988 East; Los Angeles, CA
2014 -
December 2014 - Disney's Wonderground Gallery Show -
WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney® District at the Disneyland® Resort; Anaheim, CA
November 2014 - "A Few Small Nips, A Tribute to Frida Kahlo" Group Show - Distinction Gallery; Escondida, CA
August 2014 - "10x10", Ten year Anniversary Group Show - Rotofugi Gallery; Chicago, IL
June 2014 - Disney's Wonderground Gallery Show -
WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney® District at the Disneyland® Resort; Anaheim, CA
June 2014 - "Wilderness" Group Show - Auguste Clown Gallery; Melbourne, Australia
April 2014 - "The Subtle Art of Pop Culture", Ten year Anniversary Group Show - Gallery1988 West; Los Angeles, CA
2013 -
December 2013 - "Crazy 4 Cult 7: Back In NY" Group Show - Gallery 1988, New York, NY
August 2013 - "Pop Fusion" Group Show - WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney® District at the Disneyland® Resort; Anaheim, CA
May 2013 - Two Person Show with Kiersten Essenpreiss - Gallery1988 East, Los Angeles, CA
2012 -
November 2012 - "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep", Solo Show - Rivet Gallery; Columbus, OH
July 2012 - "The Trouble Is, You Think You Have Time", Two Person Show with Josh Holland - Black Book Gallery; Denver, CO
June 2012 - Disney's Wonderground Gallery Grand Opening Exhibit, A Pixar Tribute Group Show -
WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney® District at the Disneyland® Resort; Anaheim, CA
2011 -
November 2011 - "I Still Feel You", Two Person Show with Jeremiah Ketner - Rotofugi Gallery; Chicago, IL
July 2011 - "Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition" Group Show - Gallery Nucleus; Alhambra, CA
July 2011 - "Crazy 4 Cult 5" Group Show - Gallery1988 LA; Los Angeles, CA
April 2011 - "Quentin vs. Cohen" Group Show - Bold Hype Gallery with Spoke Art; New York, NY
2010 -
December 2010 - "Ladies Night" Group Show - MyPlasticHeart; New York, NY
October 2010 - "Bad Dads: A Tribute to the Films of Wes Anderson" Group Show - Lopo Gallery with Spoke Art; San Francisco, CA
September 2010 - "The Things We Have Lost", Two Person Show with Jimmy Pickering - Rivet Gallery; Columbus, OH
July 2010 - "Crazy 4 Cult 4" Group Show - Gallery1988 LA; Los Angeles, CA
June 2010 - "Painted Ladies" Group Show - OhNo!Doom; Chicago, IL
March 2010 - "Just Because" Group Show - C.A.V.E. Gallery; Venice, CA
January 2010 - "Under The Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" Group Show - Gallery1988 LA; Los Angeles, CA
2009 -
September 2009 - Beyond Eden Art Fair - w/Gallery1988 LA; Los Angeles, CA
September 2009 - "Terrible Yellow Eyes" Group Show - Gallery Nucleus; Alhambra, CA
July 2009 - "Crazy 4 Cult: 3D" Group Show - Gallery1988 LA; Los Angeles, CA
May 2009 - "Beyond The Page" Group Show - Gallery1988 SF; San Francisco, CA
April 2009 - "Idiot Box" Group Show - Gallery1988 LA; Los Angeles, CA
March 2009 - Two Person Show with Luke Feldman - Rivet Gallery; Columbus, OH
2008 -
August 2008 - "Crazy 4 Cult: This Time It's Personal" Group Show - Gallery1988 LA; Los Angeles, CA
April 2008 - "Toys" Group Show - Gallery1988 LA; Los Angeles, CA
2005 -
January 2005 - "Phobias" Group Show - Mahan Gallery; Columbus, OH