Blake Brasher

Lives and works in Lowell, MA

Artist statement

I work in a variety of two dimensional media from small work in ink and paint on paper to large scale mostly acrylic mixed media canvases. I build up compositions layer by layer in a process that invites discovery and embraces mistakes as I try to channel emotional experience onto the surface. When I make a painting, I try to capture that sense of a memory or a new understanding being just out of reach. I engage with the brain’s pattern recognition systems but leave out enough so the recognition does not quite resolve. In this way my work creates propositional spaces that interact with the imagination. I think of these pieces as abstract mind-scapes. They incorporate different elements of the conscious experience such as raw emotion as color fields and streaks or ordered thought as systems of pattern that follow recognizable rules. My work is an exploration of the physical and spiritual nature of life expressed in color and movement. I believe the purpose of art is to help one find their place in the universe, and I consider a painting a success if it has the power to draw people into a state of meditative contemplation.

Artwork