Dentrocasa | Brian Keith Stephens

Brian Keith Stephens “Emotional Painting”

Article by Gianbattista Bonazzoli

The new works of the American artist. His curiosity for the animal world

“At the moment I am writing this text, I am preparing my solo exhibition at Punto sull’arte in Varese, which I have titled “Garlic & Gasoline”, opening May 6, 2023. The underlying idea of my new exhibition is passion and intensity, speed and power, the coexistence of organic and mechanical, which I try to convey through my canvases. Some would say that I am an emotional painter and, on this, I agree. The way I apply paint to the canvases is emotional. The way my painting covers the surfaces reveals a wide range of sensations. I want the movement of the paint on the canvas to emerge. The moment when the colors, arranged side by side, begin to shine and sparkle, changing from one shade to another. Then the combinations of pigments transform into an image and reveal intention, the possibility of meaning. I use a wide range of tools to achieve this physical fervor. As much as the painting itself is an organic search, it derives from a mechanical intervention. It is the product of my heart and my mind, but more directly of the tools in my hands. In my work, I alternate brushes of various sizes, painter’s knives, and spatulas, applying infinite layers of matter. My paintings are partly “stripped down,” partly constructed, making the process of creating the work evident and satisfying my desire to obtain a visual representation of the passing time, the energy of eternity. In “Garlic & Gasoline,” following my artistic research, I conceive a metaphorical alternative reality in which familiar people and things enter the universe of the unknown and unexpected. Throughout my life, I have understood that animals are the perfect carriers of my visions. I have always been intrigued by the way humans use animals as symbols for their stories through literature and art; the way simple animal qualities help describe human emotions in a way that is both understandable, mysterious, and seductive. By combining these elements of nature, man, and animals, I paint fantastic landscapes full of extraordinary contrasts.”

[Read the article](Only in Italian)