Largely Unplanned by Steve Brisendine

Steve Brisendine Artist Statement

I think of myself as an “occasional artist,” or a “writer who paints,” rather than as an artist. When I write, every word matters and everything is polished to as high a sheen as possible. Mostly, that is.

There’s one poetry series I visit and revisit every now and then, based on the intrusive thoughts that mark my particular strain of odd neural wiring. You could say that my art, such as it is, is a visual counterpart to that string of little oddments.

By and large, the paintings in this series are all variations on a theme of “Hmm … I wonder what would happen if I did this.” And so I do this, or that, and in a span of minutes, hours and occasionally days, the thing on the canvas takes shape.

I like doing things I’m told artists shouldn’t do. I put paint directly onto the canvas. I mix wet paint on the canvas. I paint with tape rollers, plastic cutlery, the odd wire brush that should be cleaning a battery terminal somewhere. (I’ve painted with batteries, too, for that matter.)

The process is … well, largely unplanned. There’s no grand aim here. I’m not interrogating anything, or trying to make any sweeping commentary on this or that Great Problem of Our Time. I’m just pushing paint around until the results seem right.

I hope something here seems that kind of right to you.

-Steve Brisendine