Artist Statement

Patrick J. Mahany is an obsessive street observer based in Los Angeles, California. He composes subject and setting in seconds—inviting the viewer to linger on everyday moments that are rendered moving and provocative. Mahany exploits the extraordinary scope of the contemporary street context to produce work that is singularly L.A. yet internationally appealing.

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Ironically, in a city renowned for celebrity, Mahany sees ordinary people as the most compelling subjects. They convey the emotion of their lives and imbue an instant with significance; there is a familiar yet arresting focus to each image.

The artist’s work also presents a melancholic thread. Always unresolved, the pictures rarely present subjects indoors. Most are in external settings saturated paradoxically by the optimistic Southern California sun. Mahany’s visual narrative explores the often solitary subjects’ relationship to place, for the artist is clearly drawn to the essential construct of a scene, a sequence of actions, or conscious inaction.

Mahany’s aesthetic is influenced as much by scene construction as by his decades living and working in East Asia and Europe. He brings the eye of an outsider to a city that lives out of doors; the composition of a Japanese woodblock print, the painterly style of European galleries, and the rich history of Hollywood cinema all inform his work.