All Inclusive Fast Pass 2025 pigment on cotton rag, acrylic paint
"ALL INCLUSIVE FAST PASS" is based on a images of the county, and a dense amount of information and saturation.
This body of work begins at the county fair which serves as a vibrant pallet for Shook's blending of paint and photography. Within this spectacle she finds and creates an overlap of experience.
The fair’s dense milieu — far beyond pigs and fruit, the garish colors, hot sunlight, fried food, competing logos, mechanical rides, and people on parade—is the chaotic environment where she dissects and remixes facts and fictions. Shook's focus extends beyond the theme of perception; she delves into what we can willfully ignore or deceptively impose, inviting viewers to discern the differences.
The spin wheel gives viewers the opportunity to draw and decide their own conclusions within the overlapping matrix of Fun Fact / Unfun Fact / True/ Untrue. The accompanying audio installation adds an immersive layer, with snippets of voices and a carnivalesque soundscape. Peter Steinbach, who has worked on film and video games, crafts this auditory experience to deepen the engagement with Shook's visual work.
Based on a true story. 2024 pigment on cotton rag, acrylic paint
"Based On a True Story" is centered around interior spaces; human constructs that hold narratives.
In this era of burgeoning AI and distrust of media, what is true is questioned more than ever before.These works explore duality of assumptions about what you observe, remember and feel in contrast with the reality of what is factually physically present.
How much can one make up before you start to lose track of reality?How much can I paint over a photograph before I lose the detailed lines and facts of the original mechanical photograph. This work begins as a photograph, a fast moment snapped. Then the slow reconsideration through paint.
These pieces are full of half truths and fanciful ideas. They are based on a true story, my original un-manipulated photograph. I hope you will take the time to explore the disruptions between paint and ph0tograph - between facts and ideas.
Roadside Botanicals 2023-2024 pigment on cotton rag, acrylic paint
In ideal coastal California these images appear inviting and then grow troublesome with closer viewing. The rot and debris all painted out, the colors spill over in competition for attention, the water fills in... the California dream is alive but not necessarily well here.
Rocks 2022 pigment on cotton rag, acrylic paint
This series is based on rocks and the idea that rocks are solid, trustworthy and that boulders stay put. But these beach rocks have been tossed and tumbled, worn down and embedded in the sand and sea. The colors that shimmer so vividly in the water disappear when dry. Walking through a rocky terrain takes attention and caution. So these rocks become metaphors for the uncertainty of things we once thought grounded.
