Brian Despain Art

The Icarus Fish

I believe one of the main tenets of art is that at its core it is, pure and simple, communication. It is a connection between an artist and a viewer encapsulated, and shot across space and time to fulfill it's role. I also believe that to truly create the strongest connection possible the artist must abandon the concept of dictating an idea while inversely the viewer must bring to the painting their own interpretation thus breaking from the traditional role of "passive observer" and stepping boldly into the shoes of "active participant".

As an artist, and a strong believer in the words penned above I revel in interpretations of my paintings and am continually amazed at the creativity of my audience. Telephone poles become crosses, numbers take on hidden meaning, robots become angels and fish are the reincarnation of gods...

All true, all valid, yet would those interpreters feel any different should I tell them that the pole was to fill a space, 12 was just an arbitrary number, and frankly, I just happen to really like painting fish?