FIRST FRIDAY | BRIAN ROUNDS

Artisans & agency is delighted to feature the luminous paintings of Brian Rounds for the month of August. His plein air paintings of Santa Cruz woodlands and coasts are the perfect way to wrap up the summer and head into fall. We hope you can join us on August 7 from 6-8pm, to admire his work and meet Brian Rounds in person.

A word from Brian Rounds
Art has the power to instill in us a sense of belonging. When I was growing up in California, rapid suburban development resulted in a dichotomous landscape — places of commerce intermixed with patches of land left somewhat wild. While the grid of technology and commodity provides many benefits, the forests, creeks, and trails present something indispensable: contact with what is ancient and nameless.

My landscape paintings offer a sanctuary, a meditation, a place where one can lose oneself in the contours of nature. I seek places that inspire me with harmonies of composition, tone, and color, and there begins the process of building a small reflection of the world before me—an absorbing task urged on by the gradual and changing passage of light. Through the act of painting outdoors, I hope to express the unique and mysterious pull that landscape holds when we take time to feel a connection to it.
Not unlike the American luminists, who explored nature’s mysteries by rendering light and color in spatially expansive landscapes, I strive to make light palpable and offer the viewer a sense of wonder and engagement with the natural world.