Paul Brainard

In my paintings and drawings, compositional elements refer simultaneously to deep space and surface arrangement. This formal device reflects the position of one’s reality, the gulf between where one exists in their mind as opposed to the reality of one’s existence. The images reflect my position in a media saturated consumerist society, combing elements of random advertising, personal photographs and religious imagery. Icons from early puritan New England gravestones mingle with images of pornography and homogenized culture. Time is compressed; forms overlap and eradicate one another. Random figures exist in a semi-abstracted environment to which they cannot relate.  Both abstraction and representation push and pull off of one another to develop a dynamic within the drawing that captures the void of substance in everyday life.   The emotional despair in the drawings stem from a distinct lack of spirituality that is very representative of today’s society. The drawings evolve as I follow my intuition and by altering the image through elimination, embellishment or eradication. The process is one by which intuitive discoveries lead in new directions in the drawing, preserving a feeling of spontaneity in the final image.