Abstract Paintings Acrylic Modern Artist Minneapolis

Shawn McNulty is a prolific visual fine artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who has been working professionally for the past twenty two years from his Northeast Minneapolis studio. His studio is located in the historic Thorp Building which is part of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District and holds an annual open studio event called Art-A-Whirl during the third weekend of every May. This comprehensive official website serves as an archive to view his body of work, which adds up to over 600 original paintings going back to 1998. It’s also a robust e-commerce store to purchase his original abstract paintings for sale as well as archival pigment prints giclees on paper and stretched canvas. Additionally, his refreshing approach to creativity has inspired artists all over the world. Shawn was one of the founding members of Rosalux Gallery in Minneapolis, (Minnesota’s longest running artist cooperative gallery) and was an active member from 2002-2021. McNulty’s abstract paintings can be found in private collections worldwide, as well as notable corporate collections including President Bill Clinton, Peyton Manning, US Bank Stadium, Emerson, UBS Financial, Paramount Pictures, Bellagio Hotel & Casino, and General Mills. Check out the menu above to navigate the website sections including original art, digital art, prints, blog, about, faq, archive and contact. Abstract painting can be difficult to comprehend because of its non-representational quality which challenges the viewer to participate. Usually, people tend to overthink it. Check out his abstract art definition, article about abstract geometric artwork and artist quotes about his process.

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Abstract Artist Minneapolis Minnesota Shawn Mcnulty Studio
Shawn McNulty Studio | Minneapolis, MN
Thorp Minneapolis Holiday Open Art Studio
OPEN STUDIO on December 7th, Noon-8pm and December 8th, Noon-5pm.
McNulty Studio 1618 Central Ave NE #217 Minneapolis, MN 55413 (Above Diamonds Coffee)

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Rosalux GalleryRosalux Gallery
16:17 20 Apr 18
McNulty is one of our founding members and his studio is a wonderful place to visit and check out his exquisite abstractions. His distinct style stands out amongst the many nonobjective painters in Minneapolis. You can find his work in the local corporate collections of US Bank Stadium, UBS Financial, Emerson, and General Mills.
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Recent Exhibitions and News

I was interviewed by Jon Freeman for his Art & Music podcast called Flywheel Radio.

I completed a 60 x 96″ painting titled Arboretum for a new modern gathering space for the employees at Emerson in Chanhassen, Minnesota. I created a triptych for their board room in Rosemount several years ago, and this will be the second McNulty for their corporate collection. Emerson Worldwide is a global leader in industrial and commercial automation, control, and measurement solutions. Check out the piece below along with a time-lapse video showing my process.

Arboretum Large
Arboretum by Shawn McNulty | 60×96″ 2023
Abstract Painting Process Time Lapse

I recently had two paintings in the Abstract show at the Minnetonka Art Center on view April and May 2023 and curated by artist Ellen Richman and curator Bob Bowman. Check out some photos on my blog.

Yorba, King Friday and Tokyo were on exhibit at the Minneapolis Convention Center in 2022. I wrote some text about each piece.

Convention Center
Yorba, King Friday and Tokyo

Yorba (left) is comprised of many layers and the colors are very saturated. Usually, the white is negative space coming out from the first layer, but in this case, I added white at the end to open up the composition. 

King Friday (center) has a lot of interesting forms and characters in it. I don’t use burnt umber often, but it works very well in this piece along with the orange and blue. The title comes from the dark blue character on top of the orange circles that looks like the King Friday puppet from Mr. Rogers. 

Tokyo (right) is one of my floating square compositions. This painting happened faster than most of mine and is only a few layers deep. There is a nice combination of dark and light yellows in the top half. The title comes from the fact that it feels like an Asian influenced artwork.

My painting Crescendo was on exhibit at the MSP airport during 2022 in a group exhibition titled Chroma: A Spectrum of Beauty. The exhibition is in the Concourse C Gallery found in Terminal 1.

I had a fun and impromptu art talk with musician Ryan Adams on his Instagram live feed, or as he would call it, life feed.

MPR Art Hounds (Minnesota Public Radio) featured my art in February 2021. You can listen to the segment and read about it here.

My painting Meteor was on exhibit at the MSP airport during all of 2021. The Art of Abstraction, co-curated by Ta-Coumba Tyrone Aiken and Sarah Nicole Knutson, showcases the work of 13 NEMAA artists. The exhibition is located by Gate H10 in Terminal 2.


Original Art

Check out four random original paintings currently available below. Head over to my original paintings for sale section to dive deeper (back to 2008) into my art and its evolution, or go back even farther (back to 1998) in my archive section. I also have an extensive archival pigment prints giclees on paper or stretched canvas section with many options of my abstract paintings for sale as modern art prints.


Digital Art

I’ve started creating digital art using Procreate on an IPad Pro with the Apple pencil in 2023. I’m approaching the process similar to my traditional paintings by building up layers, as well as some experimentation with different brushes and styles. The pressure sensitivity of the pencil and brush options in Procreate are impressive. Even Gerhard Richter has been doing digital paintings lately. Click here to go the digital art page. I offer prints of the digital art on paper, canvas, acrylic, metal and wood up to 48×48 inches.


Selected Press Clippings

Minneapolis Stpaul Magazine
Mpls St Paul Magazine Full Page Feature 2010

Minnesota Original

Minnesota Original came to my studio to film a segment about my artistic process on an unusually warm January day in 2012. MN Original, made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota, celebrates Minnesota’s creative community. This award-winning weekly series (produced by Twin Cities PBS) captures authentic expressions of the creative process to promote a deeper understanding of the arts. They captured some great time-lapse footage of my creation of Alligator which is part of the corporate collection of Copycats Media here in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota Original Shawn McNulty

US Bank Stadium Permanent Collection

I was one of 33 artists chosen from 1200 applicants to create artwork for US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. This is where the Minnesota Vikings play along with large concerts. I saw the U2 Joshua Tour here. The painting shows a very loose representational interpretation of the stadium, which is different than how I normally work. I used traditional green for the grass and blue for the sky for this very large 5×8′ painting which can be viewed in its own private room as you leave the Valhalla Suites. I also have another 36×36″ piece inside the Valhalla Suites common area.

Abstract Painting Shawn McNulty Us Bank Vikings Stadium
Shawn McNulty with his original painting at US Bank Stadium
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