Brian Story
DC-based artist Brian Story was born and raised in rural Tennessee and was drawn to art at a young age. He spent much of his teens traveling Europe, exploring the great museums and galleries of the Old World. His interest in art and architecture continued in his formal education, where he studied Art History at the University of Richmond, later attending the University of Georgia’s Historic Preservation Program. Brian’s travels to explore art and design on trips to South America, Asia, Oceana and Africa led him to incorporate texture, muted color fields, and mixed media including oil, wax, stains, paper, fabric, and gilding in his own process-driven artwork. It is this passion for cultural and geographic diversity that has inspired and influenced his current focus on finding ethereal beauty in found objects and recycled crates. Each work is an exploration of movement and color, both experiential and experimental, with a focus on finding joy in the process of creation, which informs all his art.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I grew up in a world surrounded by white walls and questionable decor. For someone obsessed with being surrounded by beauty, this was difficult but ultimately inspirational. I spent my childhood designing and creating my own spaces from anything I could find from Legos to moss-covered stones. I dreamed of becoming an architect, trained as a diplomat, studied architectural history, but have found my true calling as painter. As a reaction to the world I grew up in, I spend hours adding layers and dimension to my work by scraping, peeling, dragging, sanding or polishing a surface, finding aesthetic value in the imperfect or unseen during the creative process as the art emerges.