Illucá Shanahan (@repeatedoffenders) isn’t making art for the algorithm –
He’s making what he wishes existed.
What if no one ever saw your work?
Would you still make it?
Illucá Shanahan would.
And he wouldn’t change a thing.
“I love my own work.”
Not in an ego-trip kind of way.
In a back-myself, build-the-world-I-want-to-see kind of way.
That’s the energy behind Repeated Offenders a raw, layered, ever-evolving archive of
emotion.
Bold marks on canvas, paper, minds, and maybe soon – walls.
Starting is hard. Stopping is harder
“Walking away is the hardest part,” he says.
Cutting off the creative stream mid-flow feels unnatural – like leaving a conversation unfinished.
But in the in-between – the days away from paint and paper – inspiration stews.
That silence? It matters. That space? It’s part of the process.
“I try to make the most out of the hard bits.”
And if you’ve seen his work,
you know the hard bits don’t get hidden.
They get turned into art.
Sonic brushstrokes
So what does it sound like?
Aphex Twin in a thunderstorm.
Dean Blunt with a lit dart and an open loop.
Underworld. Elliot Smith. Fontaines DC.
Grimy, emotional, textured – like a memory you’ve remixed in your head too many times.
“I want my work to look the way Dean Blunt’s music feels.”
He samples like a DJ. Paints like he’s scratching vinyl.
And yeah, he’ll make music one day. You can already hear it in the brushstrokes.
Mistakes are the whole point
Ask him about perfection and he’ll shrug.
“Mistakes? Let ’em bleed through.”
They’re part of life. They’re part of the piece.
He transforms them – into form, into flow, into feeling.
Powerful walls and bigger ideas
If Illucá could paint on any wall in the world?
Parliament House.
Not for ego. Not for clout.
But to hold up a mirror to power.
“I want to voice how so many people feel.
I want the everyday person’s perspective seen.”
Human first. Artist second
He doesn’t want you to walk away thinking that was nice.
He wants you to feel something primal. Raw. Real.
“Embrace the chaos. Own your imperfections.”
This isn’t art that behaves.
It stares you down and asks:
You too, yeah?
Final notes from the studio
– Would collab with: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Clint419, Olaolu Slawn.
– Scariest part of painting? When it brings up his own story.
– How do you know when it’s done? “You don’t. Not until someone else sees themselves
in it.”
– Painted on walls yet? Not yet… but open to it, y’know?
Follow the journey…
@repeatedoffenders
Support art that bleeds, breathes, and doesn’t behave.
Words and photography James Lander
