Line Paintings

“The Line Painting” Synopsis: This flat surface, covered with linear patterns that seem to descend into a chiaroscuro, causing the viewer’s eyes to dance around the canvas in result of the absence of a focal point. Drawing from early Renaissance paintings such as The Martyrdom of St Lawrence by Bronzino to Botticelli’s illustrations of The Divine Comedy, Brinston’s impressionistic shapes seamlessly transport between the figurative and back again into a void of abstraction. This series of paintings simultaneously forms a paradoxical tension that ends up leading to a feeling of resolve.

By exploring the various themes of 2020-23, when this series was formed, the viewer has a deeper understanding of the iconographical tension. From mental and physical status to the social and political environment, Brinston gracefully encompasses the historical period leaving the viewer with a sense of optimism.

Portraiture

The portraits in this series stem from the time spent developing The Line Painting series. The saturation of information within the paintings are systems of innumerable figurations that hold their own shape. The figures silhouette, when carved out of the larger composition, focus in on the individual and the traits that make them. These contours hold architectural qualities that cast shadows, vary in texture, embody personality that give life to the abstracted neoclassical anatomies.

Statement of Work

When death leads to life, art is inevitable. And art, as creation, is a reflection of its creator. Brinston and his work consistently grapple with the revolution of death and life and death again. The cacophonous symphony of color and shape, rhythm and structure that compose his work is all at once chaotic and calm. Just as the artist himself is an amalgam of mania and peace. The composition of art and artist is indistinguishable… 

Just as his art is an extension of himself, the artist has become an extension of his art. For the artist, art is valuable in its making life worth living. Art has given him purpose and meaning, the people he loves, the places he’s been, literal survival, a future. Art is everything. And now with everything, the artist seeks to share this existential gift through collaboration and demonstration. Impact the world through connection. Inform himself and those around him through interaction. Art is the universal teacher. And the artist’s goal is to help people find little bits of themselves through personal synergy with the art. The artist’s path from life to death and back to life again has not been without pain. But the vision of Christ plus the inevitable clarity of death have afforded him balance amidst chaos and a wealth of generosity through selfless invention. The artist creates not for glory, fame or control….. but because he is an artist. And an artist creates.