Brandon Collwes

Photo by Paco Blancas

Artist Statement:

When I paint, I am chasing the feeling of dancing at my finest, relinquishing control and gesturing with abandon. My mind stops interfering, my brush strokes are placed deliberately with control, embodying motion without mimicking form.  From there I begin to affect an emotional landscape intuitively through paint spills and drips, creating space and texture with more spontaneous strokes layered in, covering and discovering until the work can be felt exactly like movement. My paintings are my personal time stamp on the world, preserving a state that, when expressed physically, dissipates as quickly as it crystalizes. 

Bio:

I started dancing and creating as a child in Pittsburgh, PA, performing in musical theater, ballets, and television commercials and spending all my free time making art. I attended the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and as my dance training intensified, so did my interest in painting.  I began producing and developing my language on all sorts of surfaces with paint.

My career lead me to New York City where I studied dance at the Juilliard School and SUNY Purchase Conservatory, eventually meeting Merce Cunningham.  I joined the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 2006 and performed until the close of the company in 2011 taking part in the finale Legacy World Tour.  This experience brought me into contact with some of the greatest living artists of our time and forever changed the way I see and make art. 

For more information and prices, please send a message via my contact page.