​

Brian is a multi-disciplinary artist who utilizes everything from painting and drawing to sculptural assemblage, photography, and digital animation to contend with a disjointed body-in space complex. A contemporary spin on Dada and Surrealism, Brian utilizes material, color and spatial relationships to evoke a kind of agitated humor that is as sophisticated as it is vulnerable. Think Francis Bacon’s ‘space- frames’- linear rectangular constructs morphing into highly abstracted interiors. In staying true to the surrealist roots, Brian takes a dive into the subconscious pulling the dreamy, the vulgar and the sexy to manipulate bodily-esque forms into brute decor.

Brian says this about his work:

“The process of making is like that of meditation. Moments of deep thought followed by times of frantic making, being completely in the moment; responding to what the piece is telling me. This rhythmic process of looking, cutting, placing, sifting, marking, pausing and replacing is what drives me to create.”

 

The show features several large constructed reliefs made of wood, tile, fabric, paint and other miscellaneous items that fit intuitively with the non-sensical family of shapes. Also exhibited is a row of wall mounted sculptures, L-shaped rooms that feature a lonely configuration that takes on the personal of self exploration. The novel hybridity of form in room resemble a fragmented memory, haptic human intimates, and chafed skin. Even Brian’s digital collages, also in the show, are a one person orgy in space, sometimes with a couch, sometimes with tiny stages, wallpaper, or what-ever else is around. Indeed, much of Brian’s work takes an absurd look at the spaces humans inhabit and the ways in which we fill these spaces; with our presence, our objects and our kinks. Brian Schneider graduated Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2014 with a BFA in Drawing. He continues to work out of his studio at Var Gallery located Milwaukee, Wisconsin.