Brandon Brownlee

Artist Statement

I am a painter and draughtsman using traditional methodologies to explore typically overlooked domestic spaces. Finding inspiration in corners, shelves, basements, and garages of middle-class American homes, I use painting as a tool to convey the magical solitude that objects accumulated in these spaces carry. Often, we move through our lives placing down everyday objects and tools in a happenstance way, planning to return later, until we don’t, and these are the images of daily life that I aim to capture in my work. The paintings are evidence of accumulation of the mundane moments of daily life that begin to take on more meaning and presence as time passes. They are at once intimate and cinematic in their narrative sensibility.

Interested in the life that the objects themselves begin to take on, particularly once they are gathered in groups, these paintings translate conversations between objects, making them appear somehow human. After all, these moments would not be able to exist without human interaction, relationships, and stories.

I am particularly interested in Object Oriented Ontology, the theory that objects communicate, have their own reality, and intrinsic value independent of human perception. Engaged with this theory, the objects and their conversations hold more weight. The paintings serve as altars to the objects, accumulation, magical moments, and conversations that led to their congregation, uncovering their stories.