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Brian James Spies is a painter who works in an abstract style that references language
as well as issues rising from his own complicated personal narrative. He was born and
raised in rural central Pennsylvania as the eldest child in a large extended Irish Catholic
in 2002. He took seven years off to work in everything from graphic design to photo
restoration. In 2010 Brian graduated from The Maryland Institute College of Art with a
an MFA Candidate at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. During his hiatus
from school Brian showed his work in a variety of spaces ranging from group shows at
The Coachella Arts and Music Festival to The First Annual Art Parade in downtown New
York City that was hosted by Deitch Projects and Paper Magazine.
Brian James Spies: Artist Statement
I am painter whose colorful abstract works deal primarily with the concept of
memory. My work is concerned with how trauma and memory can become convoluted
and intertwined. I use language pulled from journal entries and popular culture as the
visual source material for my work. I then abstract this text to show how memory can
become obstructed by our desires and the pull of nostalgia. I hope to explore these
broader notions by relying upon my own personal narrative in the belief that there is
something universal in a half remembered love song and a recollection of a shared glance
that might have meant something had we only acted upon it. My palette is intentionally
celebratory in contrast to the melancholy current that runs through the work itself. I
believe that this conflict creates a sort of push and pull in the work that acknowledges the
tug of this very human desire to not address our own memories. I very much understand
the desire to either sugar coat or shut out the past and it is my hope that by using a palette
that embraces this I am able to engage an audience that would otherwise shun this kind of
dialogue. It is my ultimate goal in this work to shed some semblance of light upon how
no matter how hard we try we can’t run from our past and that our efforts to erase or
rewrite these collective experiences only brings them back to the foreground. In the end I
hope that the work demonstrates that the only way we can truly resolve the contradictions
of our personal and collective memories is through an honest examination and not
through the twin pitfalls of ignorance and nostalgia. Ultimately our present and our future
are dependant upon our ability as a culture and as individuals to confront and address the
good and the bad of our past in an open and honest manner.
Brian James Spies: Resume
EDUCATION
1997 - 2000: Enrolled at The Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, PA
2000 – 2002: BA in Studio Art from Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA Spring
2008: Enrolled as a Non-Degree Seeking Graduate Student at The Fine Art Department at
Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA
Fall 2009 / Spring 2010: Enrolled In The Post-Baccalaureate Fine Art Program at The
Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD
2010 - 2012: MFA Candidate at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in
Philadelphia, PA