"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."