Stone in hand

Monkfactory

Roll me down

Hiding from your memories – acoustic

Happy babies

Paper Flowers

Yesterday gone

In collaboration with performance artist with Mee Ah Caughey we created a live work of art while this song played in the background. Mee Ah dressed in all black rolled onto the canvas and I continued to paint right over her. Her movements matched this 26 minute soundtrack.

Butoh live show with Mee Ah

On June 3 at 12:00, Guatemala was rocked by a devastating volcano eruption that affected directly or indirectly over 1.7 million people. Many died and even more were left homeless.

Antigua, where the artist’s family resided, is only a few kilometers away from the live volcano named Fuego. This area was blanketed with volcanic ash and the cleanup is still ongoing to this day. It was by far the worst eruption in Guatemala since the 70’s.

Regarding materials; The ash that was collected for the work came directly from the volcano eruptions on June 3, 4 and 5, 2018. (more info on the eruptions here). Also, the canvas for the work was sourced from The New Denim Project, an incredible textile company that upcycles used denim and other textiles to create threads and fabrics used to create all kinds of textiles such as art canvas, clothing, etc. Check out The New Denim Project here.

With regards to technique, the artist spontaneously spreads the ash out on a smooth surface like concrete or wood, applies a natural glue to the canvas surface, then lays the canvas flat on the image. With slight pressure, the ash composition is transferred to the canvas and then the canvas is lifted to reveal the image.  The artist feels it is akin to a monoprint technique and he will create many images in one work session and keep only the best ones. Depending on the mood and the energy of the day, the image can be sober or dynamic, complex or simple. Brand tries to stay in a meditative state while spreading the ash and feels the energy of the earth can also define the image.

Quemada

Kurtis Brand is a multi-disciplinary artist.

For the last decade, he has lived in New York, Guatemala, San Francisco, and Connecticut amongst and passionately absorbed a culture of vast extremes which lends a poetic, immediate and visceral quality to his work.

He uses art and music as a mediums, and his work is a meditation practice. 

Brand expresses what he realizes and discovers through meditation. "I feel that this world we occupy is on the brink of extreme change and it is our job as citizens of this planet to make a positive stand environmentally, emotionally, and intellectually and contemplative practice is essential to help our culture evolve into the potential of kindness, love, compassion, and empathy." This part of his work attempts to express the connection we have as people and the oneness of all sentient beings.

The quotidian material culture he interacts with becomes the medium for his work. Materials like volcanic ash from the active and violent volcano, corn masa, the dough that is used to make tortillas that provides sustenance to an extremely impoverished nation, natural plant dyes, upcycled reused denim fabrics, sustainably farmed wood for my frames, natural twine made from the maguey cactus, concrete and rebar are all material aspects that interest him.

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Brand was educated at Ohio University in painting and the Maryland Institute College of Art in design. He has exhibited and played music in Ohio, Maryland, District of Columbia, New York, Canada, and Guatemala, amongst other places, and am collected by a diverse group of international patrons.

Kurtis Brand

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