Stephen Brandes b. 1966
Overview
Stephen Brandes Festival of Pests, 2020 Inkjet Print on paper 42 x 59.4 cm 16 1/2 x 23 3/8 in Edition of 50
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.
Works
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Stephen BrandesBlood Pressure, 202159.4 x 42 cm
23 3/8 x 16 1/2 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesErmenonville Party Hat 2020, 2021Pigment Inkjet on 308 gsm Natural Soft White Cotton Rag Archival PaperImage size 32.5 x 45 cm; 12 3/4 x 17 3/4 in
Paper size 42.5 x 55 cm; 16 3/4 x 21 5/8 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesPug, 2021Pigment Inkjet on 308 gsm Natural Soft White Cotton Rag Archival PaperImage 59 x 42 cm; 23 1/4 x 16 1/2 in
Paper size 69 x 52 cm; 27 1/8 x 20 1/2 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesWest Lothian Bings, 2021Pigment Inkjet on 308 gsm Natural Soft White Cotton Rag Archival PaperImage size 45 x 32.5 cm; 17 3/4 x 12 3/4 in
Paper size 55 x 42.5 cm; 21 5/8 x 16 3/4 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesWest Lothian Bings, 2018Acrylic on Linen35 x 46 cm
13 3/4 x 18 1/8 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesEx Termite, 2020Inkjet Print on paper42 x 59.4 cm
16 1/2 x 23 3/8 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesFestival of Pests, 2020Inkjet Print on paper42 x 59.4 cm
16 1/2 x 23 3/8 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesAnother Failed Exorcism, 2020Inkjet on paper42 x 59.4 cm
16 9/16 x 23 3/8 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesGrandchild of '68, 2020Inkjet on paper59.4 x 42 cm
23 3/8 x 16 9/16 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesGolf Brothel, 2020Inkjet print on paper42 x 59.4 cm
16 1/2 x 23 3/8 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesHis & Hers, 2020Inkjet on paper42 x 59.4 cm
16 9/16 x 23 3/8 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesHeron, 2020Acrylic on canvas41 x 30 cm
16 1/8 x 11 3/4 inView more details -
Stephen Brandes(Eww) Piraeus, 2019Analogue and digital collage printed on vinyl banner, mirror-screws145 x 90 cm
57 1/16 x 35 7/16 inView more details -
Stephen Brandes(f) Pedeion Athens, 2019Analogue and digital collage printed on vinyl banner, mirror-screws145 x 90 cm
57 1/16 x 35 7/16 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesSt Joan and Ernst Apple, 2019Analogue and digital collage printed on vinyl banner, mirror-screws145 x 90 cm
57 1/16 x 35 7/16 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesApril 22ndAcrylic and marker on vinyl193 x 373 cm
76 x 146 7/8 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesBeer Mat, 2020Acrylic on Linen40 x 64 cm
15 3/4 x 25 1/4 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesNon Sequitur (Blind Red Jay/Composition in Black and Pink), 2019Ink and Gouache on 1950's copybook paper (Diptych)27 x 21 cm; 10 5/8 x 8 1/4 in
and 28.5 x 21 cm; 11 1/4 x 8 1/4 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesNon-Sequitur (Black Pentagon/One of Us.), 2019Gouache and collage on 1950's office paper, (Diptych)24 x 21.5 cm; 9 7/16 x 8 7/16 in
and 21 x 29 cm; 8 1/4 x 11 7/16 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesParc du Souvenir, 2016Acrylic and marker on vinyl236.5 x 317.5 cm
93 1/8 x 125 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesPlace des Grands Abysses, 2018-2020Ink, acrylic and permanent marker on vinyl212 x 271 cm
83 1/2 x 106 3/4 inView more details -
Stephen BrandesWelcome to John Lennon International Airport, 2008Acrylic and coloured pencil on canvas32.5 x 44 cm
12 13/16 x 17 5/16 inView more details
Biography
Stephen Brandes Ex Termite, 2020 Inkjet Print on paper 42 x 59.4 cm 16 1/2 x 23 3/8 in Edition of 50 plus 4 artist's proofs
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.
Exhibitions
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Winter Salon 2021
IT'S A WRAP! 26 November - 24 December 2021It's a Wrap is the conclusion to a pretty turbulent year world-wide. Covid, the Climate, it has been an 'on and off' year out of self-isolation in which we tried...Read more -
Trans_Formations Finale
1 October - 20 November 2021Read more -
Trans_Formations I
Ramsgate 27 May - 8 August 2021The gallery aims to create a curatorial space in constant motion, a seamless flux of art reclaiming the bay windowed open space known in Ramsgate as the Vinyl Head Gallery....Read more -
Winter Salon
Ramsgate 22 February - 31 March 2021The Winter Salon in Ramsgate is an exhibition bringing painters, sculptors, ceramicists together. Conceived by Laurent Delaye it moves freely from abstraction to many different forms of representation and seeks to reflects the current trends of art today.Read more
Bibliography
Stephen Brandes Festival of Pests, 2020 Inkjet Print on paper 42 x 59.4 cm 16 1/2 x 23 3/8 in Edition of 50
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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