Black and White Studies 1996

From my beginning in acrylic paint I have always looked to innovate, move forward and push the boundaries of my skill. Rather than live a life of artistic stasis and repetition I chose to embrace change. I change my work every 4-5 years sometimes sooner as I like to experiment, learn and allow the work to evolve while these trials take me in different directions.

As I go through my archive and travel through time to these past series I remember some of my thoughts that went into the work. I did a lot of work on paper early and just threw them in drawers and packets where they sat for 25 years.

At times in an effort to push myself and learn I will reduce my palette to just black and white or a single color. In this early period I began utilizing charcoal and acrylic to study value and gesture as I continued to use the expressive, large-movement language of abstraction that I started with. I was looking to distill movement and create a context as well as find something cohesive, complete and powerful as the focus of my brush narrowed.

Bakersfield Museum of Art.
“Bryan Ida : A Life of Change”
September 28th, 2023 – January 6th, 2024