Stephen j  Shanabrook's show "In Pills We Trust" - an array of new works situated on the artist's signature territory: the disturbing space between painful and sweet, death and beauty. One of the main topic of this show is a exploration of addiction, the way its' soft seductive whisper turns into the heaviness of an everyday fight. In a poetical and physical/material way, Shanabrook exploring the side effects of urgent social phenomena - addiction to prescription drugs. Paraphrasing Karl Marx’s famous statement about religion being “ the opium of the people”, now we can say “ the opium is the religion of the people” in contemporary society. more and more people are using prescription drugs, which are becoming almost like a new type of religion. "Pill Rabbit" ( the working title, image # 8) made out of hundreds antidepressant tablets pressed into chocolate bunny mold, as if one big dose. It's will be displayed under glass globe, and it's like a new icon, the symbol of new religion. " Pill Rabbit" will be in the same room as a  "If Jesus Had Been a Abortion How Happy Would We Be", image #7. ( What kind of "side effect" would be religion's turn with such a scenario? ) The scuplture is the life size human fetus cast in bronze and plated in 24 karatte gold, on a pedestal under a glass globe. The fetus is a casting Shanabrook made from a private pathology collection. The speciman is a result of an illegal abortion (circa 1960) and is rather spectacular considering its "prophetic Jesus" pose. Its hight is about 14cm.

Working with discomforting but at the same time visually stunning combination of materials, the artist forces the viewer into the dialog with his/her own unconsiousness. In Series " The Danger is all Mine"( image #1) artist uses the form of weeping willow and other trees to recreate visually calming situation, but only from far away. When the viewer come closer, he/she experience, how visual pleasure turning into the material danger. Branches made out of scalpels, and blossoms out of various melted pill bottles, this Series symbolises calming effect of drugs turning into danger of addiction. The soft leaves turning into sharp knifes and beauty of flowers into hundreds of melted pill bottles as a symbols of multiplying pain. Also weeping willow was the tree, where the drug aspirin came from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow - Medicine). Shanabrook is also son of the obstetritian and town coroner.