Biography

Shane Townley graduated from Platt College of Advertising and Design in 1993.  Since Fine Art had always been a passion of his, he continued his schooling by studying with New York artists.  After working for a New York newspaper, Townley was employed for 10 years by CNYdesigns, an advertising firm out of UpState New York.  Townley's duties were creative advertising concepts from the small business to the large scale corporate identities. Townley returned to South Orange County in 2003 where he opened and directed a Fine Art Gallery in San Clemente which is still thriving today.   For the past 9 years, he has been responsible for advertising and marketing as well as directing a new artist exhibit every month.  In 2007 Townley opened and directed his second location , Townley Gallery in Downtown Laguna Beach.   At this location he sets up a new artist exhibit every month rotating 12 different artists and various artists from the Festival of the Arts. Today, Townley currently exhibits at the Excel Gallery in New York City, and has bi-annual shows at the "Affaire In The Gardens" in Beverly Hils as well as the "Art Walk" in San Diego as well as multiple corporate collections world wide.

Artist Statement

"I do not only paint what I see, I paint what I feel within a scene, hoping to bring the viewer on the journey with me and show them that there is more than just the fast pace of American life, in fact every moment and every second is like poetry and will be gone for ever, to experience a moment in time, this will be achieved if we just stop and look. This is what I strive for." - Shane Townley

My inspiration is created by traveling to other countries and learning about other cultures, as well as experiences I have had throughout my life.  I have traveled around the world including far off lands such as China, Thailand, South America and many countries in Europe.  I immerse myself in each country by enjoying the foods, dance, religion and artistic culture of each and every society.   I have felt the passion and inspiration on my most recent Asian Adventure.  It provided the influence needed to create my latest body of works.  When experiencing new places the mind works differently and you feel as though you want to capture every moment of the soon ending journey which helps me to take a slow perception and vast appreciation of my travel experiences. I always travel with my camera in hand and finish every journey with1000's of photos. There might only be 2-5 photos that are worthy enough to paint in a large scale original acrylic on canvas.

Now, back in my Laguna Beach studio as I'm painting a piece from one of my most recent trips to Thailand, I will listen to a recorded day I captured in the busy streets of Bangkok.  I listen to the sounds of speeding mopeds, buses, and people speaking in Thai as they walk past the recorder.  Very faintly off in the distance I can hear a flute Player, playing on the side of the road.  The flute player is the soothing center of the street's busy chaos.  This brings me back to what I felt on the trip, seeing the beauty, smell, sound and touch are very important in order to complete my works.  Visualizing this in my mind was the same as meditation and I was able to complete my most recent piece entitled: "Inner Peace".

"Townley's Work has feeling while using landscape subjects and the moment captured is within an instant, at the same time his work has a design appeal to it." - Thomas Weiner - Excel Gallery Director, New York City