Seed 2007-2011

Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”

Sept 28th, 2023 – Jan 6th, 2024

From the title seed comes the idea of rebirth. I wanted to start over from nothing and develop and purify new gestures and techniques as opposed to a refinement of any previous work. I felt restricted and a feeling of tightening in the series I had been working on for the prior 3 years and wanted to get back to gesture and free flowing images.

I started these paintings with a clean slate mentally and it resulted in a series that is fresh with new ideas and approaches, but remains true to my nature and sensibilities. I made a conscious return to vibrant color, with their inherent contrasts and compliments from the subdued palette of the prior series.

An ever evolving exploration into gesture and color I use air guns, airbrush, paint brush, squeegee, sandpaper, palette knife, fingers, anything I can to manipulate and push paint. I see in many paintings a subconscious revisiting of old images and forms.

I began experimenting with epoxy in multiple layers creating a physical depth that I became very interested in.