About The Work
Brian Calvin began developing a figurative, non-narrative, pictorial style during the 1990s, steeping landscapes and portraits in his Californian roots. Close-up treatment of subjects, highly composed structures, and luminous colors laid flat endow these large-scale paintings with a strange temporality. In observing his technique of pictorial economy, one gradually comes to see a type of abstraction in his representation of certain details. They reveal the true finality of his work, reaffirming the primacy of a visual reflection on painting itself and its possibilities. Calvin’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at venues including Almine Rech, Brussels and Anton Kern Gallery, New York. Brian Calvin’s work is also in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the DePaul Art Museum, and the Aïshti Foundation, among others.
Featuring Calvin’s trademark style, Sadie Jane is a surrealistic portrait of a female character who gazes back at the viewer with doubled eyes. For the artist, the image recalls Frankenstein’s Creature—a whole sewn together from disparate parts—from Mary Shelley’s famous novel. Although the figure appears to inhabit a flattened environment devoid of shadows, details such as her hair or sweater are defined by dense brushstrokes that animate them with frenzied patterns. In Calvin’s own words, “On some level, I’m always playing with elemental qualities of a painted figure, seeing what happens when you combine or distort those elements. Details are painted in and over until the resulting image declares a life of its own."
Of this series benefitting the Ali Forney Center, he notes, “I strongly support the Ali Forney Center’s mission of providing housing and healthcare to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. It is essential to protect and to support this vulnerable community.”
ART FOR CHANGE will donate a portion of proceeds from each print sold to the Ali Forney Center in support of the organization’s programs that save the lives of LGBTQ+ young people, protecting them from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently.
About Brian Calvin
From The Magazine
Archival pigment print
Unframed $950 | Framed $1,450
24.00 x 17.50 in
61.0 x 44.5 cm
This work is signed and numbered by the artist.
About The Work
Brian Calvin began developing a figurative, non-narrative, pictorial style during the 1990s, steeping landscapes and portraits in his Californian roots. Close-up treatment of subjects, highly composed structures, and luminous colors laid flat endow these large-scale paintings with a strange temporality. In observing his technique of pictorial economy, one gradually comes to see a type of abstraction in his representation of certain details. They reveal the true finality of his work, reaffirming the primacy of a visual reflection on painting itself and its possibilities. Calvin’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at venues including Almine Rech, Brussels and Anton Kern Gallery, New York. Brian Calvin’s work is also in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the DePaul Art Museum, and the Aïshti Foundation, among others.
Featuring Calvin’s trademark style, Sadie Jane is a surrealistic portrait of a female character who gazes back at the viewer with doubled eyes. For the artist, the image recalls Frankenstein’s Creature—a whole sewn together from disparate parts—from Mary Shelley’s famous novel. Although the figure appears to inhabit a flattened environment devoid of shadows, details such as her hair or sweater are defined by dense brushstrokes that animate them with frenzied patterns. In Calvin’s own words, “On some level, I’m always playing with elemental qualities of a painted figure, seeing what happens when you combine or distort those elements. Details are painted in and over until the resulting image declares a life of its own."
Of this series benefitting the Ali Forney Center, he notes, “I strongly support the Ali Forney Center’s mission of providing housing and healthcare to LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. It is essential to protect and to support this vulnerable community.”
ART FOR CHANGE will donate a portion of proceeds from each print sold to the Ali Forney Center in support of the organization’s programs that save the lives of LGBTQ+ young people, protecting them from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently.
About Brian Calvin
From The Magazine
Framed editions ship in 3 to 6 weeks from New York.
Edition of 50 with 4AP + 1PP
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- Ships in 1 to 3 weeks from New York.
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