Brian Robertson

Brian, super talented and a super uncle!

Check out Brian's work here

1. A brief story about you

Once upon a time there was boy named Brian. He always found making pictures made him the happiest and he liked his pictures to come alive and talk back at him from the page. Brian eventually grew into a grown up (at least mostly) but he never lost the desire to make new friends with his pencils and brushes.

2. Your first/earliest visual memory?

I think my earliest visual memory was quite possibly the construction of my first "hand turkey".

3. What or who inspired you as a kid?

I used to watch a show on public broadcasting in the U.S. called the "Secret City." The show was hosted by a guy who every week would draw new characters and scenery into a mural depicting all the cool goings on of the little funny people who lived in his underground town. It was pure imagination and I drew a lot of my own cities from watching that show.

4. An early poignant art making moment/experience?

When I was a kid I made "Monster Books." I'd come up with all kinds of crazy monsters and make volumes of the ones I'd drawn. I had monsters with televisions for heads and vacuum cleaner hoses for arms. It was a lot of fun....wish I kept them!! 

5. How would you describe your style and approach to your work? 

I see my style and approach as a bit of a hybrid between realism and abstract expressionism. I usually include a dose of rendered realism but the driving force of the aesthetics is the balance, movement and composition of the shapes. I don't usually sit down with a concept or subject in mind, rather I just draw abstract compositions and let the shapes suggest back to me what they'd like to become.  From this initial intuitive spark I can usually capture some emotional content & honesty that escapes me when working from a subject or pre-conceived idea. I can then shift to the more deliberate acts of applying the techniques of rendering and collage to "fill in" the composition.

6. Message for mini budding artists?

Let your imagination go nuts! If you can think it, you can make it real. Just keep practicing and don't ever forget how cool it is to be a kid, even when you're all grown up!