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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.