Michael Brennan
Michael Brennan has been exhibiting his paintings in New York City, and internationally, for almost 30 years.
He’s been a professor of painting at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for over 20 years, where he recently joined the faculty
of Pratt in Venice. He’s written articles on abstraction for many publications, as well as exhibition reviews, and several catalog essays. He’s represented by Minus Space, and is a former member of American Abstract Artists.
He’s been a professor of painting at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for over 20 years, where he recently joined the faculty
of Pratt in Venice. He’s written articles on abstraction for many publications, as well as exhibition reviews, and several catalog essays. He’s represented by Minus Space, and is a former member of American Abstract Artists.
Mare Internum
This current group of paintings are about internalizing the external environment that surrounds and fascinates me—the Gowanus Canal, Venice. They are entirely abstract, but still subject to familiar elemental readings—water, clouds, sky.
A colleague once classified me as a “conjurer.” Maybe this is true? I often paint with lapis lazuli, powdered glass, silver, and a knife, working until I apprehend an image—one that I recognize, but remains surprising, or revealing, to me also. Painting has its limits, but sometimes it can be enough to approach a subject closely, bending more than parallel.
A colleague once classified me as a “conjurer.” Maybe this is true? I often paint with lapis lazuli, powdered glass, silver, and a knife, working until I apprehend an image—one that I recognize, but remains surprising, or revealing, to me also. Painting has its limits, but sometimes it can be enough to approach a subject closely, bending more than parallel.
Michael Brennan, Mare Internum I, oil on canvas, 20 x 28”, 2020.
Michael Brennan, Mare Internum II, oil on canvas, 20 x 28”, 2020.
Michael Brennan, Mare Internum III, oil on canvas, 20 x 28”, 2020.
Michael Brennan, Mare Internum IV, oil on canvas, 20 x 28”, 2020.
Michael Brennan, Mare Internum V, oil on canvas, 20 x 28”, 2020.
