Casey Riordan (born 1973) is a Cincinnati-based artist working in a variety of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, video, and publication. Riordan's work aims to “create a temporary distraction from the weight of oneself”.[1] She obtained a Bachelor's in Fine Art in 1994 from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.[2]
Riordan's artwork has been displayed in various cities and states such as Cincinnati, Ohio, Buffalo,[3] New York, and Chicago, Illinois. The majority of Riordan's pieces include her original character, Shark Girl.
Riordan's character, Shark Girl, appears in many of her illustrations, paintings, and sculptures. Shark Girl is a young girl with the head of a shark created in 2004. She was a way for Riordan to “reflect her own anxieties”.[4] [5] A fiberglass sculpture of Shark Girl was built[6] for the Ohio River Downtown with a $6,000 grant in 2012. Visitors used the piece as a photo-op, turning it to have the Ohio River in the background. Around Easter 2014, visitors began to deface Shark Girl with graffiti. The city left repairs in Riordan's hands. Soon after, Aaron Ott, the public art curator at the Albright–Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo purchased the sculpture and the museum created a fund to maintain it. The sculpture was moved to Buffalo, where it became a popular local landmark.[7] [8]
A YouTube video entitled “Come Follow Me” features Shark Girl. The video, created for Riordan's 2012 installation at The Contemporary Arts Center's UnMuseum in Cincinnati, Ohio, follows Shark Girl on a journey leading her to a horse which is also featured as a sculpture in the installation. The video is 4 minutes and 11 seconds long and was uploaded to YouTube on February 12, 2013. It features drawings and animation by Riordan with editing and co-direction by Ossian Mendoza and music by John Aselin.
Shark Girl is the title character in Riordan Millard's 2014 children's book “Shark Girl & Belly Button”.[6]
| Solo Exhibitions | ||
|---|---|---|
| ArtWorks, Kennedy Heights Arts Center Annex, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2016 | |
| Albright- Knox Art Gallery, Canalside, Buffalo, New York | 2015 | |
| Thomas More College, Crestview Hills, Kentucky | 2014 | |
| Angela Meleca Gallery, Columbus, Ohio | 2013 | |
| Findlay Street Project Space, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2013 | |
| Cincinnati Recreation Commission, Yeatman's Cove, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2013 | |
| UnMuseum, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2012 | |
| PAC Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2011 | |
| Packer-Schopf Gallery, Chicago, Illinois | 2011 | |
| Herron School of Art and Design, IUPUI, Indianapolis, Indiana | 2011 | |
| Weston Art Gallery, Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2009 | |
| Packer-Schopf Gallery, Chicago, Illinois | 2008 | |
| The Carnegie, Covington, Kentucky | 2008 | |
| Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois | 2006 |
| Group Exhibitions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Faculty Art Show, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2016 | |
| Escape Hatch Collective, Kennedy Heights Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2015 | |
| The Fine Art of Illustration, Gallery One One, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2014 | |
| Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, Indiana | 2013 | |
| SOFA Chicago, with the Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago, Illinois | 2012 | |
| John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin | 2010 | |
| PAC Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2010 | |
| Summerfair Group Exhibition, Funkes Fired Arts, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2010 | |
| For the Birds, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky | 2010 | |
| 20 Years/20 Artists, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2010 | |
| UTurn Gallery, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2010 | |
| Evanston Arts Center, Once Upon a Time and Now, Evanston, Illinois | 2009 | |
| Fuller Craft Museum, The Perfect Fit, Brockton, Massachusetts | 2009 | |
| Fine arts Fund, Enjoy the Arts 20/20 Festival, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2008 | |
| Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio Arts Council juried show, Columbus, Ohio | 2008 | |
| Art Chicago, with the Packer-Schopf Gallery, Chicago, Illinois | 2008 | |
| Bridge Art Fair, with the Packer-Schopf Gallery, Miami, Florida | 2007 | |
| Music Show II, through Publico Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2007 | |
| Art Chicago, with the Packer-Schopf Gallery, Chicago, Illinois | 2007 | |
| Gen Art, Ignite! 2006 Chicago, Chicago, Illinois | 2006 | |
| Art Chicago, with the Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois | 2006 | |
| University of Cincinnati, WordArt, Cincinnati, Ohio | 2005 | |
| Aron Packer Gallery, Four, Chicago, Illinois | 2005 | |
| The Affordable Art Fair, with the Aron Packer Gallery, NYC, New York | 2004 | |
| Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois | 2003 |