Miraculous vs. mundane
Local artist Brandon Graham wins Best of Show for his portrayal of the
trivial and the triumphant
10:00 AM CDT on Sunday, August 8, 2004
By Lucinda Breeding / Arts & Community Editor
From the entrance to the East Gallery, Brandon Graham’s award-winning
painting — which is actually a set of five paintings contained in a single
frame — has the clarity of a series of photographs.
Draw nearer and you see the complexity of the piece, titled The Mundane That
Surrounds the Miracle, which sets five detailed paintings of the cool,
sterile plumbing and furnishings of a hospital room in two rows. It’s
painted in two layers, acrylic first and then oil. On the right side of the
piece, a hospital-issue infant pacifier is suspended from the painting.
And suddenly, the art takes on the impact of a Flannery O’Connor short story
— where life-changing moments are stamped on the brain by way of pictures
that, in and of themselves, don’t seem to be related to the event.
Graham’s arresting painting, the winner of the Littie Grooms Award — Best of
Show in the Visual Arts Society of Texas 2004 Annual Juried Members Exhibit,
is about the birth of a child.
"I was kind of waiting around when my nephew was born, and I was kind of
comparing the ordinary things against the miracle of a child being born,"
Graham said. "The comparing of the man-made things to the God-made things
has always been something that interests me."
Graham dabbles in photography, and took photos of the hospital room while
waiting for his nephew’s grand entrance to the world. The piece took on more
interest to him when his daughter, Amalya, was born about nine months ago.
"Maybe the pacifier was beating the viewer over the head a little," he said.
"But I thought all of this was a way to get the viewer to think about their
own children, or the children born into their families. I thought this made
it more universal somehow."
The details are the stuff of life. Apart from one another, the paintings are
up-close depictions of a faucet, the plastic edge of a hospital baby bed,
the hose on the back of a hospital room toilet, a hospital doorknob and part
of a clean, crisp hospital bed. Together, the five pieces tell the story of
the moments before a birth, and the things a loved one studies while trapped
by time.
Graham has lived in Denton three years with his wife, Christy, and he’s
taught art to seventh- through 12th-graders at Liberty Christian School in
Denton for three years. Graham said he didn’t take art in high school.
"It’s kind of a late bloomer thing," he said.
Graham said he doesn’t aggressively enter shows, but enters some to keep his
chops for the classroom.
He took art in his last semesters at Texas A&M University. He went on to
earn a fine arts degree from Sam Houston University. He’s currently studied
for a master’s degree in fine arts at Texas Woman’s University. For The
Mundane, Graham took the photos, ran them through his computer, printed them
out, then painted them, using acrylic to "map out" the images and topping it
off with oil.
Juror Carol Fairlie, who teaches art at Sul Ross University, was captivated
by the means Graham used to communicate the earth-shaking moment of
parenthood.
Fairlie selected award winners based on originality, technical ability and
what she calls "pushing the principal and elements of design."
"It is the combination of these things ideas that, to me, divides the
amateur from the accomplished artist," she said. "Graham’s painting stood
out from the rest immediately, simply by its compositional format, the
juxtaposition of imagery. On closer scrutiny, the way color was used, the
space was designed and the paint applied made a statement of individuality.
It is hard to create a narrative image that is not illustrational. This is a
prime example of a narrative that alludes to the concept, yet lets the
viewer conclude the idea."
Graham said it’s been something of a journey for him.
"When I started studying art, I was doing everything non-objective," he
said. "Then as time went on, I’ve begun to do objective work."
Some might call The Mundane photo-realism, but Graham doesn’t insist that it
is so. These days, he’s working more with oil and doing less mapping out
with acrylic.
Graham said he joined the society two years ago, and finds it a valuable way
to keep his finger on the pulse of the North Texas art scene.
Fairlie said the arts society has made some pretty long strides since its
inception more than 30 years ago.
"Overall, I am very impressed with the Visual Arts Society of Texas," she
said. "I have seen the growth of this organization for almost 25 years and
where many arts organizations are struggling along, VAST has grown larger
and stronger through the years. I know I need to also credit The Arts Guild
[of Denton] for much of the cultural growth in the arts, but VAST is a solid
group with a very talented and productive membership."
Graham’s next step will be to bring more serious art study into his
classroom. As he continues his studies at TWU, he hopes to institute an
Advanced Placement art curriculum at Liberty Christian.
LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877.
Best of Show
Who: Brandon Graham, winner of the Littie Grooms Award — Best of Show
What: Visual Arts Society of Texas 2004 Annual Juried Members Exhibit
When: runs 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, through Aug. 19
Where: The East Gallery at the Center for the Visual Arts, 400 E. Hickory
St.
Details: Admission is free. For more information, visit www.dentonarts.com
or www.ntaal.org.
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DRC/Al Key