Counter-Signs: The Paintings of Tom Brand. Art Review by Robert Kameczura

Counter Sign by Tom Brand. Click to enlarge.

Countersign
Oil on Wood (48" X 36")
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The title refers to an apparent reference to signs, and there is a suggestion of roads, houses, road-side fences and trees. Imagery is not boldly stated but suggested. The atmosphere is distinctly spring-like as suggested by the use of soft green and gold coloration, while the swirling forms suggest wind over a landscape.

Painted Lady
Oil on Wood (48" X 36")
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The “Painted Lady" is a butterfly native to North America, and this painting is based on a photograph by the artist of such an insect. The shapes in the butterfly's wing were the start of a kind of free fantasia of shapes that also suggest flight and the motion of a butterfly over a garden.

Painted Lady by Tom Brand. Click to enlarge.
Tondo IV by Tom Brand. Click to enlarge.

Tondo IV
Oil on Wood (41" diameter)
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A tondo is a round painting and a compositional challenge. It was often used by Renaissance artists and has a unique quality which combines complete symmetry with a feeling of dynamic motion. Here, the shapes suggest brick buildings, smoke, clouds and perhaps a river running through it all. The dynamic quality of a city is emphasized by the shape.

   

Tribute to Ralph Meyer
Oil on Wood (38" X 24")
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Ralph Meyer wrote "The Artists' Handbook,” which has been of invaluable assistance to the artist as it contains many useful formulas for paints, varnishes, grounds, etc. The explanations and procedures of applying oil paint in glazes was of great value — this technique allows for luminous, subtle color with many shades of tone. Since the light reflects through the paint and then bounces back off the ground, it has the depth and richness of a stained glass window. The artist painted this picture as a tribute to Ralph Meyer's expertise.

Tribute to Ralph Meyer by Tom Brand. Click to enlarge.
   
Prairie Station by Tom Brand. Click to enlarge.
Prairie Station
Oil on Wood (36" X 28")

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In this recent painting (2002) the artist tried a new type of approach to space. The picture was inspired by a railroad station (at Beverly Shores, Indiana), and the forms in the lower half are suggestive of beginnings and endings, as is appropriate for a railway station. But the intention is not to create an illusion of a particular place or image, but allusion to psychological concepts symbolized by the forms and half-suggested images. As the artist says, “Abstract works put the burden of meaning more on the viewer. The painting has elements of a tableaux to be interpreted and can say different things to different people. This is one of the advantages of abstraction — the painting is full of partial metaphors that are completed by the imagination of the viewer.”

 

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Artwork Copyright © 2003 Tom Brand
Text Copyright © 2003 Robert Kamezcura
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