Brian McDonald

Media

Mixed media
Painting

Styles

Figurative/Representational
Portraiture

SF Open Studios

  • Weekend 1, Oct 9-10
    The Blue Studio, 2111 Mission Street
    4th Floor, Studio 12

Artist Statement

My paintings are inspired by cartoons and dream logic. Layers of paint and collage are woven together into a montage of choice and chance, brought together by a structural sense of composition and an appreciation for poetry in found materials. Through the use of disparate and often ambiguous imagery, my work employs the Duchampian idea of art being completed by the viewer, allowing each individual to construct a narrative based on personal associations. My distinct visual style is underscored by a rather dry and dark humor which pokes fun at the absurdity of modern life.

Music is a tremendous influence on my work as a painter. I am fascinated with the spatial, temporal, and structural components of music. I work with dense layering of paint and collage to create a network of intertwining patterns, stories, and colors which suggests movement, history, and rhythm. As structural and spatial patterns emerge, this dense layering of paint and collage is woven together into a unified composition. I see many parallels between the structural rhythm of music and that of life. My paintings are an attempt to understand and to capture the movement, the structure, the patterns, the rhythm, the history, and the interconnectedness of life.

The Curious Off-gassing Of Mr. Honey Bunny
Chewy
Eureka!
Third Eye Polenta
Urine Trouble Now
Hasty Getaway