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.