Brandi Hofer Artist Statement September 2011

 My work and contemporary process is the by-product of my life experiences. My thought process revolves around color, composition and the process of making the art.  Art making for me is dependent upon the immediacy of the moment. My process describes my mood and perception of self. As a result the work that I am creating is the outcome of my subconscious environment.

Female portraits have been the focus of my artistic practice for many years. Female portraiture I feel evoke a certain emotion that the viewer connects with.

 My primary mediums have consisted of acrylics oils, and mixed media, and now I have been combining all my mediums with encaustic waxes. Currently my process in France is a mixed media of Intaglio prints and highly pigmented chalk pastel on paper.

Earlier this year after I had spent a month residency at Red Deer College in Red Deer Alberta, someone there suggest I apply to CAMAC a residency in Marnay Sur-Seine in France. At this residency I have the opportunity to spend time with painters, writers, video artists, photographers, and people of the creative trade. I now have the time where their “life” does not interfere with my craft.  This residency is also a place where I can be influence or inspired by other artists and vise versa.

The body of work that I proposed to CAMAC and am now creating is a combination of mixed media female portraits and figurative work. I am basing my portraits on a series of interviews that I have had between Canadian women as well as women that I meet in France. Now in France I will look into why women live where they live, how they got to be here and their family info structures. I am also studying their female relationships with friends, family and how they communicate with one another. I then go on to form a portrait from each individual interview. So far my interviews have been extremely captivating, I am combining the audio interview media with the visual art into a final piece for exhibition.
