All the Boys to the Art
Brandon Brewer  /  a life in mediums

Timeline

scroll — the line draws itself

  1. FuldaHessen · DE
    Studio portrait of a laughing baby with curly hair and two bottom teeth, in a white T-shirt and teal pants, holding a plush dog
    about 1 year old

    [year]  /  Fulda, Germany

    Born in Fulda

    Born in Fulda, in Hesse, Germany.

  2. Sierra VistaArizona · US
    Faded snapshot of Brandon, about six, on the left, with his big brother Justin and Mickey Mouse
    me and my big bro Justin, about 6

    [years]  /  Sierra Vista, Arizona

    Growing up in Sierra Vista

    Grew up in Sierra Vista, in the high desert of southern Arizona.

  3. Rugrats tracings — scan to come

    [year]  /  Sierra Vista

    First drawings

    First drawings as a little kid: Rugrats, and a lot of tracing.

    Rugrats!

  4. Colored-pencil drawing of a face: two blue eyes, a nose and red lips floating on white paper
    first portrait — colored pencil
    Unfinished colored-pencil portrait of a smiling young man, magenta and yellow light behind him
    unfinished, high school
    Graphite drawing of a woman in profile under a hood
    portrait of my mum — graphite, high school

    [year]  /  High school, senior year

    First portrait

    My first portrait, in senior-year art class: colored pencil.

    senior year

  5. pencil drawing — scan to come

    [years]  /  [school]

    Pencil

    Graphite and figure drawing, then Media Arts with a minor in Studio Art.

    1. Alcalá de HenaresSpain · 2004 · summer 2006
    2. FortalezaBrazil · summer 2005
    3. GuadalajaraMexico · 2006–07
    4. AcapulcoMexico · 2007–08Fulbright
    Oil painting of a round street mirror reflecting white houses and blue sky
    oil, Acapulco 2007–08
    Acrylic painting of a glass bottle standing in dark beach sand at sunset, rocks and sea behind
    acrylic, Acapulco 2007–08

    2004 – 2008  /  Spain · Brazil · Mexico

    Abroad

    Study abroad in Alcalá de Henares, a summer in Fortaleza, another summer back in Alcalá, a year in Guadalajara, then a Fulbright year in Acapulco, where I made my first two paintings.

    first paintings, Acapulco

  7. Vector portrait of a smiling young woman with dark curled hair and a gold necklace, on a dusty-rose ground
    Grandma Monteiro, 2016
    Vector portrait of a smiling older woman with curled hair, in a pale green jacket on a peach ground
    my friend’s Granny, 2018
    Vector portrait of a small boy with an afro and an orange collared shirt
    Baby Ace, 2019

    2016 – 2019  /  Adobe Draw

    Digital illustration

    From the pencil to the screen: vector portraits of family and friends.

  8. Cut-paper collage: barrel cacti, organ pipes and a saguaro arm rising from a heap of red lava rock on cream paper
    Covid Collage N°1, July 2020
    Cactiger — a tiger head grown from a saguaro
    Cactiger
    The Rose — a crimson rose nested in pale crystal, crossed by a thorned branch
    The Rose

    2020 →  /  Quarantine

    Collage

    The pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Analog and digital collage became a way to heal, and the most productive stretch of the work so far.

    • 2020 Me as Child — permanent collection, MCLA Gallery 51
    • 2022 Collage Your Life (Storey Publishing)

    cut, paste, repeat

  9. Collage self-portrait from a childhood photo: a boy holding a sunflower, face covered by patterned cloth, beside a bamboo birdcage with an owl inside, a rainbow band running through it
    Self-Portrait, 2020
    Collage: white and pyrite cubes on a bed of leaves and white blossoms, two hummingbirds and dotted orbits, on a navy triangle
    Event Horizon, 2020
    Collage: three saguaro shapes cut from carved stone, wood and ribbed paper against a dusk-gradient diamond
    Saguaroff, 2020

    2020 →  /  Photoshop

    Digital collage

    The cutting moved onto the screen: scanned paper, found photographs and drawn line, layered and rearranged until they hold.

    Saguaroff Photoshop yet here I am

  10. Oil portrait of a woman with short dark hair in a chevron-collared top, sea behind her
    Odessa Brewer (grandma), 2017
    fragment figment façade pt I
    fragment figment façade pt I
    Swelter
    Swelter

    [year] →

    Oil paint

    Oil, a forgiving medium, close to drawing in graphite. After the two Acapulco paintings, a 2017 portrait of my grandma Odessa was my third; now the references are rebuilt with AI from fragments of the collages.

    oil on black

  11. movement

    [year] →

    Dance & movement

    The body as the medium.

    Watch the movement work

  12. next

    And then?

    Still being made.