Borca Di Cadore, 2023
Oil on canvas
65 x 50 inches
Black Narcissus, 2024
Oil on canvas
50 x 65 inches
Hong Kong, 2024
Oil on canvas
42 x 60 inches
Tokyo, 2024
Oil on canvas
65 x 55 inches
Paris, 2024
Oil on canvas
30 x 34 inches
Shanghai, 2024
Oil on canvas
55 x 60 inches
Lake of the Clouds 2, 2023
Oil on canvas
42 x 60 inches
Victoria Glacier, 2024
Oil on canvas
60 x 65 inches
"Colin Brant begins oil paintings with thin washes of color, the pigment deposits in the grooves of the weave and emphasizes the texture of the fabric. Using reference materials such as linen postcards and 19th century colorized stereoscope images, the layered colors are reminiscent of these old printing methods. Overlapping tones of dusty pinks and violets tinged with orange suggest things seen through grainy atmospheric distance as well as across the distance of time. Scumbled marks of thicker paint over these thinner layers coalesce into images. Brant is inspired by artists who use representation as a starting point for the imagination to wander, including Post Impressionists like Pierre Bonnard, early American self-taught artists, and Chinese landscape painters.
Although landscape is a recurring motif, there are a variety of subjects that he paints including animals, minerals, and celestial phenomenon. Using a variety of vintage postcards which show the range from slightly different angles with different light and color situations, the paintings become a study of mutability and subjectivity. No matter the subject, things are constantly in flux or shifting between one state and another. Mountains fracture and dissolve in light, animals appear then vanish, reflections turn a landscape upside down, everything is in transformation and slipping between the recognizable and fantastical. Whether the subject is plankton or a vast
fjord, the painting becomes a meditative exploration of how he sees and understands the natural world.
After encountering a photo of a tourist at Disney Paris, Brant was struck by the illuminated phenomenon of the castle behind the figure. Artificial pinks and purples glowed against a dark sky, as if the architecture was made entirely of colored lights. By painting the image, Brant sought out to see if he could bring something of that initial amazement, akin to stumbling upon a mysterious alien spacecraft. Painting the other five Disney castles was a way to explore a variety of moods and color combinations that accentuate the illuminated castle phenomenon, sometimes doubled in a reflecting pool. In the process of painting these images, Brant came to understand more about the fantasy aspect of the fairy tale and its potential for dreaming and imagination.
Colin Brant (b. 1965) received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in 2022, fellowships from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation; New York Foundation for the Arts, and held a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. Solo exhibitions include Galeria Richter (Rome, Italy.), Dutton (NY); Platform Space (Brooklyn), Jeff Bailey Gallery (NY); Adam Baumgold Gallery (NY); and Beth Urdang Gallery (NY). Group exhibitions include James Cohan Gallery, (NY) Steven Zevitas Gallery (Boston); Lucien Terras (NY); Geoffrey Young Gallery (Great Barrington, MA); The Bennington Museum (Bennington, Vermont); The Berkshire Museum (Pittsfield, MA); and Platform Space (Brooklyn), among others. Brant received a BA, University of California at Santa Cruz; and an MA and MFA, University of Iowa. He has taught at Williams College, SUNY Albany, and the School of Art and Design at Alfred University, where he also held the position of Director of the Fosdick Nelson Gallery, and has taught at Bennington College since 2011. He lives and works in North Bennington, Vermont and Brooklyn, New York."
EDUCATION
1995 The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, MA, MFA in Painting
1989 University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, Graduate Certificate in Art 1987 University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, BA in Studio Arts
1987 Chancellors Award in Painting AWARDS
2022 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Fellowship Fine Arts 2004 New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellowship Grant in Painting 2002 Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France, Artist in Residence 2000 Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Individual Artist’s Grant
1998 New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellowship Grant in Painting SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Tibbar Tibbar, Galleria Richter, Rome, Italy
2023 Mountains Like Rivers, Platform Space, Brooklyn, New York 2023 Dirty Snowball, Dutton Gallery, New York, New York
2018 People of the Forest, Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson, NY 2011 Bennington Museum, Bennington, Vermont
2007 Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts 2004 Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, New York 2002 Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2001 The Garden of the World (And Getting There), Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, New York
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Arcadia and Elsewhere, James Cohan Gallery, New York, New York 2024 Orwell’s Roses III,Orwell’s Garden, Brooklyn, NY
2024 The Sky Was The Ocean That Day, Curated by Bob Nickas, Everybody Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2024 Christmas In July Curated by Wells Chandler, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, New York, NY 2022 Animal, Racecar Factory, Indianapolis, IN
2021 Further in Summer than the Birds, Platform Space, Brooklyn, NY 2021 Angle of Repose, Poker Flats, Williamstown, MA
2017 Put Me In the Zoo, Lucien Terras Gallery, New York, NY 2013 Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA
2011 Two of Each, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, Massachusetts 2010 The Folk Tradition, Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2008 Road Works, Baumgold Gallery, New York, New York
2008 Repositioning the Landscape, Curated by Jennifer McGregor, Westport Art Center 2005 In A Series, Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, New York
2004 Innocence Found, DFN Gallery, New York, New York
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2023 Sweeten, Natasha. “Colin Brant’s Communion with The Inconstant” Two Coats of Paint Nov. 30, 2023
2023 Pinotti, Maria Vittoria. “Colin Brant: Thinking Like a Mountain” Juliet Artmagazine Dec. 20, 2023 2018 Maine, Stephen. “Nature Painting as Rorschach Test” Hyperallergic, March 10, 2018
2007 Keene Review, Fall/Winter 2007
2007 McQuaid, Cate, “Colin Brant: Recent Paintings”, The Boston Globe, Nov. 8, 2007
2004 Naves, Mario, “Mythical Landscapes Born of a New Brand of Irony” The New York Observer, May 3, 2004 2001 McGee, Celia, “Pastoral Outing” The New York Daily News, October 27, 2001"