BRENDEN PARSONS

The goal of my artwork and my creation of art is to build a better understanding
of myself and my reactions to the world around me. I view painting as somewhat of a
research tool to me. It helps me to understand my own view on beauty and aesthetics.
I’m currently fascinated with abstraction in the form of portraits and landscapes. My
approach to aesthetics generally includes thick oil paint with a wide array of colors.
I often feel an odd sort of psychological connection with thick paint, as it can
absolutely change how we look at a painting. Especially when approaching topics such
as identity, and conflict I often feel paint applied thickly can create the sort of tension
and destabilization I seek to create.
When it comes to my artwork, I find it important to try to portray a very specific
idea in a way that captures that idea and portrays it in an interesting manner. While I’m
very influenced by philosophical ideas from absurdism and hedonism and those ideas
do reflect in my artwork, I prefer it if they aren’t absolutely shouted at the viewer.
Along with my philosophical influences, I also like to include some aspect of
myself in most of my work. I’m very interested in the negatives traits I maintain, such as
narcissism, immaturity, and vulgarity. I use paint to reflect on these aspects of myself by
juxtaposing them with the positive, such as cigarettes among colorful aspens. As both a painter and a designer, I have two different worlds I can explore with vastly contrasting goals and ideas. I approach both with great excitement, as well as the coming years that I’ll be creating in those two mediums.