Humpback Whale
“Humpback Whale” 47×55
acrylic on linen 2023
New to the endangered species series. Thanks to whaling bans the Humpback whale population is recovering.
Positive Exposure at TAG Gallery
Two pieces from my “con.Text“ series, “Father II” and “Kimiko Kitagaki” will be on view at TAG Gallery from May 1 to May 24 as a part of Positive Exposure, an exhibition celebrating perspectives of the Asian American Pacific Islander artistic community.
opening reception at TAG
5458 Wilshire Blvd
Saturday, May 4, 4–8 pm.
“Father II” 40 x 34 ink on panel
A portrait of my father based on a photograph taken by Dorothea Lange when she was commissioned by the War Relocation Authority to photograph the Internment of Japanese Americans residing on the west coast during WWII
The piece is rendered using text from the California Alien Land Law of 1913, which targeted mostly Japanese farmers who were “aliens ineligible for citizenship” and prohibited them from owning agricultural land or possessing long-term leases over it.
I was lucky to find three photographs taken by Dorothea Lange of my father and his family in San Francisco when he was 17. He went on to enlist into the U.S. Army out of the Topaz Internment camp in Utah and served as an interrogator and interpreter in the Pacific theatre for the Military Intelligence Service.
“Kimiko Kitagaki” 36 x 28 ink on panel
Another portrait based on a photograph taken by Dorothy Lange of Kimiko Kitagaki as she waited with her family to board a bus that would take them to Tanforan Assembly Center, a converted horse stable, and eventually to more permanent housing in an internment camp built in inhospitable surroundings inland from the coast.
The words used to make the marks that compose this portrait are the text from Executive Order 9066, which was an Executive Order signed by FDR that established military areas excluding those of Japanese descent and establishing the internment camps away from the West Coast.
San Francisco Art Fair 2024
Billis Williams Gallery will have one of my older pieces in their booth at the SF Art Fair.
San Francisco Art Fair 2024
April 25-28, 2024
@billiswilliams.gallery
Booth F05
“Vico’s Science” Oil and wax on canvas 2002.
In 2001 I started experimenting with cold wax medium by mixing it into oil paint, allowing it to partially cure then carving into the painting. I would then load the scars with paint and sand it back even with the surface. This would produce very fine lines with many imperfections where the surface cracked as I scratched into it.
“Monica” 36 x 30 ink on panel 2023
Monica’s family moved to Compton near south Los Angeles in the mid 50’s amid a backdrop of intense racial discrimination. Some of the first black families entering Compton neighborhoods were met with violence, vandalism, and terror. One of the many forms of discrimination was in the use of housing covenants, deed restrictions and extralegal measures that restricted minorities from home ownership in many parts of Los Angeles. They were limited by covenants as well as a narrow access to financing known as redlining. These covenants were a part of southern California housing since the late nineteenth century and they were struck down partially in 1948 and then completely in 1953.
The words I chose to use in the formation of this portrait are sections from current residential deeds that still to this day contain the covenants restricting ownership to whites only, though they lack any legal standing.
Part of the Lakers “In the Paint” program.
Available Online : https://www.bandofvices.com/itp2024
“Appolos: The Crenshaw District”
Appolos: The Crenshaw District”
44 x 40 acrylic, charcoal, graphite, ink on panel.
This piece depicts three separate subjects in a simplified racial history of the Crenshaw district in Los Angeles.
Developed in the 1920s as a white suburban outpost the Crenshaw District remained minority free until 1948. This restrictive ownership was based on covenants written into the residential deeds that stated one cannot sell, rent or lease to a non caucasian. It remained this way until the Supreme Court struck down the racist housing covenants in 1948.
As a result of this ruling in the 1950’s many Japanese Americans and African-Americans moved into the area.
They shared feelings of being discriminated against and as a result they formed bonds and established a community feeling based on mutual respect and admiration.
This portrait attempts to convey the ethnic history of an area that is continuing to evolve in its racial diversity.
On view until Feb 24
Band of Vices
5351 West Adams Blvd
Part of the Lakers “In the Paint” program
New Acquisition
I am honored that the Bakersfield Museum of Art has acquired two paintings from early in my career to add to their permanent collection. It is a privilege to have work included in their esteemed collection and is truly a moment of immense pride and joy for me as an artist.
I am deeply grateful that the museum recognized the value and significance of my work, and I am thankful for the curatorial decision to incorporate it into their prestigious collection. The knowledge that my art will be displayed alongside other exceptional pieces in the museum is both humbling and inspiring.
I want to extend my appreciation to Victor Gonzales and the entire team at the museum for their expertise and dedication to the arts. It is truly a testament to the museum’s commitment to fostering and celebrating artistic expression. I am thrilled to contribute to the cultural richness and diversity that your institution represents.
“Love Falls the Tears” 30 x 48 acrylic on canvas 1995
I was working in acrylic figuring out flow, bleed and viscosity. I used visual elements and gestures from movements of the past to feel with my own hands how gestures are laid down in paint.
“Impermanance” 36 x 48 oil on canvas 1997
In 1997 I discovered a technique used during the renaissance where they used many layers of paint to build a transparent, luminous black instead of an opaque, flat black. The colors used were yellow ochre, burnt sienna, terre verte green, alizarin crimson, prussian blue and aureolin yellow. In order to learn more about glazing and building a luminous dark I reduced my palette to these 6 colors.
Nature Series 2017-present
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
Sept 28th, 2023 – Jan 6th, 2024
While working on my “con.Text” series of ink on panel portraits I wanted to express some ideas I had on environmental issues we face today. I began work on two series that culminated in a show titled “Deep”
In “Deep” I present two series of paintings that explore the delicate balance between human existence and the fragile ecosystems that sustain us. We are blessed with a world that contains such exquisite natural beauty and wonder yet mankind’s endless demand for energy and expansion puts immense pressure on these systems to survive. In the name of human advancement and expansion the cost to animal species and the environment is deep and irreversible. The true measure of a civilization is in its compassion and empathy, not in its ability to consume.
Within the “Nature” series, I cut apart landscapes of trees and nature and place them one on top of each other, breaking their continuity, while bending and merging what remains. The juxtaposition of the two worlds reveals the struggle we face today with the future of our planet dependent on our ability to balance the increasing demand for resources and the needs of the natural world.
In the “Fading Light” series I explore the theme of endangered species, depicting each animal obscured in a deep darkness. The concept of fading light serves as a metaphor for the dwindling populations of endangered species and the threat of extinction that looms over them. This twilight also represents the passage of time, the impermanence of life and the move from the unconscious to awareness. As light frequently does, it represents hope and possibility in the face of adversity.
“Orangutan” 24 x 72 acrylic on panel
“Blue Whale” 30 x 72 acrylic on panel
“Whooping Crane” 26 x 25 acrylic on panel
“Snow Leopard” 24 x 21 acrylic on panel
“The Park” 40 x 34 acrylic on panel
“Maple Fall” 36 x 72 acrylic on panel
“Solitude” 48 x 36 acrylic on panel
“Sunset and Desire” 40 x 60 acrylic an panel
“con.Text” 2017 to present
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
Sept 28th, 2023 – Jan 6th, 2024
In 2017 after Trump was inaugurated as president one of the first action he wanted to take was to ban people from Muslim based countries from entering the United States. He took to twitter to justify the Muslim Ban and it reminded me of the Internment of Japanese Americans during WWII of which my parents were both interned.
The idea came to me to render my neighbor, whom I frequently saw in her Niqab going to temple for service on Saturday mornings, with the words of Trump’s tweets which were so damaging to her.
This first portrait took about three months to finish as I endlessly wrote out trumps tweets, figuring out the shadows and highlights and trying to make his words inert and harmless, word upon word making them illegible and powerless.
“Neighbor” 60 x 37 ink on panel 2017
The second is a portrait of my grandmother inspired by a photograph taken by Dorothea Lange when she was commissioned to photograph Japanese Americans being interned during the start of the US entry into World War II. This shot was taken in San Francisco as my grandmother and her family waited to board a bus for an internment camp in Utah.
The words used to make the marks that compose this portrait are the text from the Immigration Act of 1917, which barred most immigration from Asia.
These portraits are the first in the series and the latest portrait I have completed. There are 24 in “con.Text” so far.
“Grandmother” 60 x 37 ink on panel 2023
Original photo by Dorothea Lange, 1942.
Portraits 2017
In 2016 -2017 I was thinking about how I could portray the angst, anger and resentment of the political and social climate of the election year without referencing it through obvious pathways. I was looking for something that I could do that would be a step or two away from actual events, so I decided to work on a series of paintings and drawings that depict artists and curators as a way to convey something about the political zeitgeist of the time. I chose artists and curators because they are a group of people who strive to communicate the hidden reaches of interpretation and present a more profound form of expression.
Each time you step further away from the source material, distortion and bias grow, as each person interprets and gives meaning to events differently. I try to interpret and communicate in theses portraits, each person’s awareness and reaction to the current reality, and show a deeper awareness of the political and social atmosphere in which we live.
I chose to represent the face, as it is the most identifiable and expressive part of the human form, and by offering multiple angles and views of the same subject, it shows the many facets and angles that each person perceives and emanates. The interaction between the many layers references my previous work, by using hard edge forms and multiple glazes, I create relationships between the foreground, middle ground and background that communicates the interconnections between our various subjective planes of reality and exemplifies the complexity of each individuals personality and the different ways we are perceived. Each fragmented portraits covers and reveals itself, the underlying forms and images capturing the compiled complexity of the moment.
The pen and ink drawings take the idea of layering and stacks image over image while rendering them to paper. There are as many as 50 charcoal sketches that are laid down and then erased from the each portrait before an ink drawing is rendered over the top as a final layer, completing the fragmented representation of our interior and exterior worlds.
“Jill” 36 x 32 acrylic pencil and ink on panel 2017
“Dani” 23 x 18 acrylic pencil on panel 2017
“Koan” 25 x 17″ink, pencil on paper 2017
“Ben” 23 x 17 acrylic, pencil on panel 2017
“Kio” 40 x 36 acrylic, pencil, ink on panel 2017
“Carlson” 25 x 17 pencil, ink on paper 2017
“Megan” 36 x 32 acrylic, ink on panel 2017
“Stuart” 23 x 18 acrylic on panel 2017
Cities 2014-2017
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
Sept 28th, 2023 – Jan 6th, 2024
After working with thick layers of epoxy for the past few years I started using acrylic so I could do multiple layers without building too much weight and to get away from the toxicity of epoxy resin. I could do many thin layers, up to 50 layers, and build subtle darkness again like I used to with oils.
In this series I have continued my exploration of memory and it’s relationship to our feeling of place. We have strong emotional memories tied to certain locations as well as small recollections based on glimpses of areas we have passed by. Our memory is a reduction and refinement of our experience and I try to collect and assemble this assortment of thoughts and impressions and further distill them to their essence and lay down the elements in paint.
“China Basin” 48 x 39 acrylic on panel 2015
“Shelter Island” 39 x 65 acrylic on panel 2015
“Dusk in the Blink of an Eye” 48 x 41 acrylic on panel 2015
“On the Perspective of Being Wrong” 34 x 48 acrylic on panel 2016
“Fallout” 34 x 48 acrylic on panel 2016
“Lines Drawn to Yesterday” 44 x 56 acrylic on panel 2016
“Moment by Moment” 35 x 74 acrylic on panel 2017
Cities 2012-2014
In the last series I was doing abstract gestural paintings working with layers of epoxy trying to integrate the background, mid-ground and foreground into one cohesive statement. Out of nowhere came a hard-edged piece with an entirely different palette reminiscent of the mid century modern movement. When these moments of inspiration hit I follow them as far as I can, trying to unlock the secrets of the moment of creation. Cities 2012-2017 is that exploration.
The new series of paintings, using round and rectangular shaped panels, explore the intricacy, diversity, complexity, and beauty of the cities we live in. Cities are built in layers, and when you peel away layer by layer truths are revealed. I like the idea of layers and reveals, digging and unearthing forms.
“Genesis” 36 x 36 acrylic, epoxy on panel 2010
“Century City” 47 in diameter acrylic and epoxy on panel 2012
“Granada Hills” 38 x 48 acrylic, epoxy on panel 2010
“Santa Monica” 32 x 84 acrylic, epoxy on panel 2012
“The View” 47 x 41 acrylic, epoxy on panel 2012
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.
“Manganese Study” 41 x 36 oil on panel 2007
“Tranquility Spring” 41 x 36 oil on panel 2008
“Generation One” 48 x41 oil on panel 2009
“First Light” 40×40 oil, epoxy on panel 2010
“Wiseman” 32 x 30 oil epoxy on panel 2010
“Party”24 x 29 oil, epoxy on panel 2011
“Take me Home” 41 x 48 oil, epoxy on panel 2011
“City or Nature; Longing and Need” 2004-2007
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
Sept 28th, 2023 – Jan 6th, 2024
I will be there this Saturday from 1-3 if you want to meet up
In the last cold wax series based on cities, I came up with a one off painting of rocks, inspired by river rocks that I would see while fly fishing rivers and steams. This painting inspired me to do a series, called “City and Nature, longing and Need” that would consume me for the following 3 years.
This oil paint based series contrasted man made straight lines and right angles with the natural beauty and soft curves of river rocks stacked one o top of the other. A city is a gathering place for culture and commerce filled with buildings, signs and man-made structures that block us from contact with nature creating a void that must be filled. In the rocks we can explore nature as we experience the solitude and natural beauty not associated with a city. There is a calm, a sense of time passing slowly and an ancient wildness.
“Rocks” 72 x 48 wax oil on canvas, 2004
“Fate and the Time We Have Together” 48 x 60 oil on canvas, 2004
“Balance” 66 x 48 oil on canvas 2004
“As Night Settles In” 48 x 40 oil on canvas 2005
“A Preference to be Entitled” 72 x 45 oil on canvas 2005
“Midnight” 48 x 60 oil on canvas 2006
“Looking in the Realm” 70 x 48 oil on canvas 2006
“Lost and Found” 60x 45 oil on canvas 2007
Cold Wax City series 2003-2004
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
Sept 28th, 2023 – Jan 6th, 2024
I continued using cold wax medium as I began to develop a theme based on cities and their forms. I was intrigued by the everyday and the interactions of color and form that occur in the hustle and bustle of a crowded city and I explored the juxtaposition of disparate images in a single composition. I would explore the city as theme for the next decade in many various forms and techniques.
“The City” 48×48 oil, wax on canvas 2003
“Pensive Mood in the Moonlight” 40×48 oil, wax on canvas 2003
“What the Night Will Hold” 40×48 oil, wax on canvas 2003
“Center City” 40×48 oil, wax on canvas 2004
“On the Eve of My Destruction” 48×60 oil, wax on canvas
“As I Wander Do I See” 48×55 oil, wax on canvas 2004
In the Paint
I am thrilled to be working with the Los Angeles Lakers by participating in their “In the Paint” organizational initiative that recognizes, supports, and uplifts artists of color in Los Angeles. In its third year, “In the Paint” strives to change the trajectory of a cohort of L.A.-based BIPOC artists’ careers through both in-kind funding and long-term programming supporting a creator economy.
The beauty of the city is the different stories that emerge from every neighborhood around this sprawling metropolis. As their home, the Lakers are honored to provide a platform to share these stories.
More Disruption:Representational Art in Flux
Thank you John Seed for including me in your book “More Disruption:Representational Art in Flux” his second book in a series of books about disrupted realism. it’s an honor to be in the company of these great artists
The book reveals the contemporary art phenomenon of disrupted realism through the paintings of 43 artists at its core.
Profoundly shaped by the events, forces, and overflow of today’s disjointed, social-media-heavy life, these artists’ paintings are “disrupted” stylistically, thematically, or sometimes both.
They allow us to appreciate how art relates to the “super-fast, simultaneous, almost dizzyingly paced scrolling” of our lives.
Cold Wax series 2001-2003
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
Opening Reception Sept 28th 7-9 pm
Sept 28th, 2023 – Jan 6th, 2024
Cold Wax series 2001-2003.
In 2001 I started experimenting with cold wax medium by mixing it into oil paint, allowing it to partially cure then carving into the painting.
I would then load the scars with paint and sand it back even with the surface. This would produce very fine lines with many imperfections where the surface cracked as I scratched into it.
“Test of Nine” 36×48 wax oil on canvas 2001
“Deep Under” 48×36 wax oil on canvas 2001
“Talisman II” wax oil on panel 2001
“Rocks” 72×48 wax oil on canvas 2001
“Genesis Travel” wax oil on canvas 2001
“Serenity” wax oil on canvas 2001
Leaves series 2001
A short “Leaves” series followed the flower series in 2001 where I really started working with
the idea of integrating the background, mid ground and foreground. I was thinking about how I
could have separation of the planes, but integrate them and make them relate to each other.
I was hoping to have them work together and integrate on all levels.
The idea of Leaves as a theme brought me in the direction of the natural world and ecosystems
that I would revisit later in my artistic journey.
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
September 28th, 2023 – January 6th, 2024
“Leaves-Red Leaves” 36×32 oil on canvas 2001
“Leaves 2,3” 36×32 oil on canvas 2001
“Leaves-Blue Autumn Leaves” 36×36 oil on canvas 2001
“Leaves- Blue Leaves” 36×36 oil on canvas 2001
“Leaves -The City” 36×36 oil on canvas 2001
“Leaves-Still Life” 36×36 oil on canvas 2001
What is life without challenge and humor?
As my skill grew I began seeing figures and landscapes that needed to get onto canvas. I went with what I saw and interspersed isolated portraits, landscapes and funny animals in with the flower series I was working through.
In these one offs from this time period of 2000 to 2001 you can see a glimpse of future work.
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
September 28th, 2023 – January 6th, 2024
“Girl in Blue” 36×48 oil on canvas 2001
“Landscape” 36×48 oil on canvas 2001
“Figure in Blue” 36×24 oil on canvas 2001
“Figure in Red” 48×36 oil on canvas 2001
“Aye You’se” 48×30 oil on canvas 2001
“Buck Why” 48×38 oil on canvas 2001
“Toofy” 12×9 oil on canvas 2001
“Happy Guy” 12×9 oil on canvas 2001
Flower series 2000-2001
Following the “Lights” series I was searching for a theme that would hold my creativity and inspire me. I was painting everyday and from this emerged a flower series.
I was trying to tighten the brush further and establish a style and gain more control over each stroke. Moving from freedom and accidents to something with more intent.
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
September 28th, 2023 – January 6th, 2024
“Twilight” 60×48 oil on canvas 2000
“Red Fan” 60×48 oil on canvas 2000
“Summer Swing” 48×36 oil on canvas 2000
“Orange over Blue” 48×36 oil on canvas 2000
“The Garden” 48×48 oil on canvas 2000
Lights series 1999-2000
Following the renaissance series I added a full palette of color and explored glazing and layers with my “Lights” series in 1999.
In this new direction the imagery began to have intent and to represent something as opposed to gestures and abstract forms and the brush became more disciplined.
I was always intrigued by the limitations of the visible color spectrum and how it relates to the audible spectrum of sound waves. Within this limitation of perception there lies unlimited variations and combinations.
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
September 28th, 2023 – January 6th, 2024
“Green Lights” 48×30 oil on canvas 1999
“Blue Lights” 48×30 oil on canvas 1999
“Red Lights” 30×48 oil on canvas 1999
Untitled 48×48 oil on canvas 1999
Renaissance Black Series 1997-1998
Many of the concepts of music are with me to this day with harmony and melody being prime examples. Harmony in music builds the base upon which melody can soar to unencumbered expression and emotion. This for me correlates to a technique in painting called glazing where thin transparent colors are layered on top of each other to build darkness and depth.
In 1997 I discovered a technique used during the renaissance where they used many layers of paint to build a transparent, luminous black instead of an opaque, flat black. The colors used were yellow ochre, burnt sienna, terre verte green, alizarin crimson, prussian blue and aureolin yellow. In order to learn more about glazing and building a luminous dark I reduced my palette to these 6 colors. You can see the luminosity coming from the back instead of light highlights painted over the top.
Bakersfield Museum of Art
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
September 28th, 2023 – January 6th, 2024
“004 Renaissance” oil on paper 1998
“005 Renaissance” oil on paper 1998
“011 Renaissance” oil on paper 1999
“012 Renaissance” oil on paper 1999
“Radiance” 36 x 48 oil on canvas 1999
“Impermanence” 36 x48 oil on canvas 1999
“I Face Myself” 48 x 48 oil on canvas 1999
Black and White Series in oil 1997
A tool I frequently use is to reduce my palette to black and white. This allows me to further explore the properties of oil paint while only having to think about value and composition. As I paint my brushwork continues to get tighter and I begin to find my own voice with ideas pouring out of my head on a daily basis. I remember the anticipation of going into the studio to see what would happen that day.
There is something to be said for simplifying what is around you so that one can appreciate its fullness.
Bakersfield Museum of Art.
“Bryan Ida : Life of Change: A Retrospective”
September 28th, 2023 – January 6th, 2024
“Black and White 15” 36×60 oil on paper 1997
“Black and White 14” 36×60 oil on paper 1997
“Black and White 12” 48×48 oil on canvas 1997
“Black and White 11” 48×36 oil on canvas 1997
“Black and White 10” 48×36 oil on canvas 1997
“Black and White 13” 48×36 oil on canvas 1997
Bryan Ida 