Overview
Stephen Brandes’ practice explores both word and visual language as vehicles for storytelling, with particular reference to travel fiction and European traditions of absurdism and satire.
 
For several years he embarked on a series of very large, highly detailed drawings on floor vinyl, which charted a perpetually expanding fictional universe – the genesis of which was a journey through contemporary Eastern and central Europe, following a route his grandmother had made in 1913, escaping pogroms in Romania.
 
More recently, he commenced a body of work which not only includes drawing and painting, but monumental posters, signage, collage, printed publications and animated slideshows.
THE UNDERLYING THEME OF THIS WORK CONSIDERS THE LEGACIES OF EUROPEAN HISTORY, BY VIEWING HUMAN ENDEAVOR WITHIN THE LANDSCAPE AND THE CONSTRUCTED WORLD FROM OBLIQUE CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES. IT IS FUELED BY AN INTEREST IN HOW VISUAL AND PICTORIAL LANGUAGES FROM THE RECENT PAST HAVE BEEN ADOPTED WITHIN PARTICULAR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, FROM THE AVANT-GARDES AND TOTALITARIAN AESTHETICS OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY TO THE GRAPHIC SENSIBILITIES OF MORE RECENT YEARS. THESE ARE OFTEN PUT INTO CONFLICT WITH THE SUBJECT MATTER: THE LANDSCAPES, THE MONUMENTS AND ARCHITECTURE THAT HAVE EVOLVED THROUGHOUT EUROPE OVER THE PAST 400 YEARS.
 
HIS RE-ENGAGEMENT WITH THIS MATERIAL IS NOT OUT OF NOSTALGIA, BUT RATHER FOR THE PURPOSE OF MISAPPROPRIATION, IN ORDER TO REINVEST FRESH MEANING TO THESE SUBJECTS. THE CHALLENGE IS TO CREATE OBJECTS AND IMAGES THAT PRESENT ALTERNATIVE VIEWS TO COMMONLY ACCEPTED STANDARDS OF BEAUTY AND AUTHORITY. IT ALSO ATTEMPTS TO CONSIDER OUR SHARED HISTORIES AND FUTURE WITH A MEASURED MIXTURE OF POIGNANCY AND HUMOUR.
 
Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Dowload: Civic Disturbance, Irish Arts Review 2014 (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Download: The Irish Arts Review Autumn 2020 on the CCI Paris exhibition (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Works
Biography
artist Stephen Brandes moved to Ireland in 1993. He completed an MA at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 2002. His work explores the interplay of word and visual language as a vehicle for storytelling, with particular reference to travel fiction, absurdism and satire. Brandes represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale 2005 and has shown in numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally. He now lives and works in Cork.

Brandes has also worked on several curatorial projects, most notably Superbia, commissioned by Breaking Ground in Ballymun, Dublin, 2003 and "Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland" at Visual, Carlow, 2013.  With artists Mick O’Shea and Irene Murphy, he formed the absurdist culinary performance group, the Domestic Godless.

Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Dowload: Civic Disturbance, Irish Arts Review 2014 (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Download: The Irish Arts Review Autumn 2020 on the CCI Paris exhibition (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Exhibitions
Bibliography

A short bibliography

 

Klutz Paradiso

Published by the Royal Hibernian Academy Gallery, Dublin, 2006

Contributors: Sarah Glennie, Barry Schwabsky

Design: Atelier David Smith, Dublin

 ISBN 1-903875-31-5 0

 

The Last Travelogue of Joseph M. Published by Travelogue Art Zine, Berlin, 2010Edition 1:200 Copies ISSN 1873-6863

 

Creative Ireland: The Visual Arts

[Contemporary Visual Art in Ireland 2000 – 2011]

 curated/edited by Noel Kelly & Seán Kissane, 2012

 ISBN: 978-1-907683-11-4

 100 Irish Artists,

100 Colour Plates,

6 Commentaries from respected writers such as: Medb Ruane, Colin Graham, Valerie Connor, Fiona Kearney, Brian Hand and Noel Kelly

 

The Hellfire Club Published by Askeaton Contemporary Arts, 2012 Exhibition catalogue with texts by Michele Horrigan,Padraic E. Moore and Brian O'Doherty. 48 pages, 19 colour images, 32 b/w images. ISBN: 978-0-9558630-5-9

 

Ireland at Venice 2005 Sarah Glennie Published by the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, 2005Published on the occasion of Ireland at Venice 2005 51st Venice Biennale ISBN: 0-9502440-6-6

 

Dictionary of Living Irish Artists Robert O'Byrne Published by Plurabelle 2012 ISBN: 978-0-9563011-0-9

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