Brian David is a bedroom artist based in Burton. Staffordshire Arts caught up with Brian to get a bit of background and to hear the story behind his incredible work, which amazingly has never been on public exhibition.
Brian, tell us a little about yourself and your art?
“I’m the typical Gemini, and for those that might wonder what does he mean, simply put, there’s the two sides to my artistic pursuits. I graduated with a BSc in Architectural Technology, which was no walk in the park as most Architectural Professionals will agree.
However the other side to this is my free-range to paint or draw. So my talent is ‘creativity’ and this is why I do what I do. Crafting my imagination from sketch to canvas. My current pursuit is painting with a little illustration.”
Tell us more about your current style
“For the time being my current brief has been towards what you could call ‘spiritualist art’ or free-styling from a few past painters that have inspired a similar agenda.
To name drop, William Blake, Alex Gray an Albrecht Dürer are a few of the guys out there that make me a little vexed to say ‘I wished I’d done that’ and wanting to have a go… Well I’ve no particular path towards the work I do I just do what I do with what I have…My aim now is that with the passing of time my endeavor is to work as diligently as they have and maybe one day become as insightful.”
How did you get to where you are at today? Why did you start?
“I think at some stage, a child will get up to something, you know, have a habit or a thing to do, that no one else is doing. Mine happened to be at the time scribbling all over my school books.
Back in the day it was down too using ink cartridges and only with the right hand! Yes it’s true, during class I had to use my right hand to write. Every time our teachers caught me using my left hand I’d get a good telling off ! Why? Well anyone who’s a ‘Lefty’ like me would know that ink tends to rub the palm and ruin the books as well as the crisp clean school shirts. I was only a kid, and in this moments of ignorance and frustration with trying to write with my right hand, I’d sit back an draw instead with my Left.
So maybe by being a little rebellious at the time, maybe this started my path towards my life as an artist. Looking back maybe it was a way to free myself from the harshness or conforming and finding a little peace in the the creativity it gave me from the maddening world surrounding my time growing up. And yet again I think art over time has become my ‘Haven’. So in contrast growing up and having these moments to be creative gave me a space to breath.
Still the mill still needs to turn, and my education lead me as it does most young people down the ‘rabbit hole’ and into the life of a student, all the way to a graduating with my BSc. But in my spare time a i’d need a space to relax away from text books, essays and reports. So I did more free hand drawing or reading up on Architecture, well the libraries at uni are massive. and so much to see. Still I’d wonder around the campus and brush by the art studios and question why am I not in there painting and creating. Why am I out here doing an Arch Tech course. Still I wanted to finish my degree, which I did.
After graduating I became fixated on my artwork, and continued to paint. I had no set goal or commercial ventures in painting, and now that this was my hobby. I became a bedroom artist.”
So what do you mean by bedroom artist?
“Having started to collate pictures I wasn’t sure what to do with them, and having no more space on the walls I’d get the urge to paint over them to keep painting. It became a habit. There is a moment when the artist gets transfixed or hypnotised by the work they do, and before you now it its time to go to sleep.
Well I ended up with this issue, and painted over my canvasses more than a few times. Being a bedroom artist limits the creative, and yet here I am. I haven’t much in quantity with my art but I do hope it quality makes up for it.
The only people who’ve seen my paintings in person are family & friends.”
So what work would you like to share with the our ‘Staffordshire Arts Website’ audience?
‘The painting I’d like to share with you most is ‘Tau Om Re’ – A Deity figure seated on the lotus expressing Kundalini.”
Tell us more about ‘Tau Om Re’?
“How do we make our fingers click? What is the Hand posture? What is the sound? where is the Belly Button? What is the Spark of life?
It’s just a painting, but still I wanted it to be as much as it could be. An education within art, within the painting. a picture being a thousand words and all.
The big bang… The burning flame… We feel in our hearts’ the emotional centre of our Being. What is the Kaduceus. The Two snakes with the seated figure one red one blue. the posture the feet, to the head dress of a crown.
No one set religion but as with the title, a collaboration from many.
Who do you admire? Who influences or inspires you and why?
There is an American Artist in New York I’d love to visit some day if I ever get a passport, and his name Is Alex Gray. His work is mind blowing, and he is a creative that takes after my own heart. It’s a shame we don’t celebrate artists like him here in the U.K. Still this modern artist has to be one of my favourites. Bu
There is also a German artist by the name of Albert Durer, with his famous small prints, especially one titled ‘Melancholy. He incorporated the speed of light into the print back the 1500s, and Public Science did not know this until 2002 or there about. What amazes me is his ability to tell a story or pass on little messages for the onlooker to discover over time.
What are you up to currently?
I’d like to do more but I’ve taken a some time out at the moment trying to figure out my next steps. Still I’m looking into possible places that might exhibit some prints I’m collating.
How would you like people connect with you, or see your art?
Brian has extensive samples of his art, along with some further fascinating written insight at www.amajesta.weebly.com
He can also be contacted by email at briandavid1111@gmail.com
