Biography

Bryan Donahue is a mixed media artist and a high school graphic arts teacher based out of Los Angeles, California. Born in 1983, Bryan grew up immersed in the pop culture of Saturday morning cartoons, comic books, video games, MTV, bad 80’s movies, and toys especially. Demonstrating a proclivity for the visual arts as an adolescent and teenager, he pursued illustration and ceramic in his undergraduate studies before pivoting to a degree in art education. Donahue graduated Magna Cum Laude from California State University Long Beach in 2010. After completing his student teaching and working in the private sector for several years, Bryan returned to education and has worked as a graphic arts and comic teacher at Lynwood High School for the last eight years.

 

After starting a family and establishing his career in art education, Bryan returned to his collegiate studies to pursue a graduate degree. He briefly studied art education at Boston University before making the decision to reconnect with his art practices and enroll at Teachers College’s Studio Practice for Art Educators program in 2022.

 

As Donahue approaches forty years of age, his current work reunites him with his childhood nostalgia as he focuses on the themes of consumerism, manufactured goods, and artificial intelligence. Taking inspiration from the popular culture of the 1980’s and a wide range of artists including Ed Roth, Mika Rottenberg, and Alex Pardee, Bryan has continued to develop a body of work that focuses on the production and fabrication of molded plastic sculptures, packaging design and photography. Through the manual reproduction of fictitious household and perishable goods, particularly in his obsession with toys, Bryan has allowed himself to address his curiosities and digest the burdens of an overgrown child pretending to be a mature adult. Most known for juvenile humor and convincing production of bootleg collectibles and pop culture parodies, Donahue has occupied a number of physical spaces including The QiPO Fair in Mexico City and The Painting Center in New York City.