Artist Brian Alfred

Artist Brian Alfred 1

American artist Brian Alfred is best known for his paintings, collages and animations which explore how the world has changed through the use of new media technology and in particular the visual manifestation of how information is shared and disseminated throughout popular culture.

His works present a depopulated and predominantly urban world derived from found images. Inspired by the technological progress, conspiracy theories, globalization, civil unrest, political and social opposition, Alfred defines the essential forms present in an image with the aid of a computer. A process of reduction and abstraction before rendering the forms as carefully calibrated colour fields in animation or acrylic.

“In a world dominated by images that promise a great deal, delight the senses and scare the hell out of us… All art can do is to show the
flatness of that promise, of those compositions, and of the world around us. And this is what Brian Alfred does. His world is flat. His surfaces are impenetrable.(…) Presenting non- judgemental renderings of surface,of flatness, and of shape, Alfred leaves conclusions concerning paranoia or politics, the manifold meanings of his images, to the beholder. His task as somebody who has dedicated himself to making and not just consuming images, is to use the logic by which our visual culture works, which is seduction mixed with blandness that allows the information to reach as wide an audience as possible, against the flatness itsel” – by Aaron Betsky

Until February 20th, 2010, Gallery Haunch of Venison in New York presents “It’s Already the End of the World”, a solo exhibition of new work by Brian Alfred.

Fourteen new paintings, collage works, and a major new video work as well as multiple soundtracks by musicians Flying Lotus, Ghislain Poirier and Roberto Carlos Lange.

The video below is a documentary on Brian Alfred featured at Sundance 2007 but I also suggest you view an excellent short excerpt of “It’s Already the End of the World” over at the Haunch of Venison site.

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