Details:
① Artwork:
Almost Touching
This painting depicts planes at a moment of near encounter or intersection. The vibrations in the composition are on the edge of blending together yet remain distinct—inviting viewers to consider the proximity of objects as an abstract concept.
Brasfield's paintings explore the subjectivity of the senses in hallucinogenic and layered compositions. Inspired by the color separation techniques invented to reproduce images in print, the artist uses an airbrush and stencils to build up a surface of vibrating dots to suggest the shadow of an image without ever fully bringing it into being. Brasfield's work, which includes sound art, explores stillness and time, drawing on philosophy and music, as well as spiritualist and early modernist traditions—particularly how to conceive of and depict states of mind in space.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Williamson Brasfield’s paintings are hallucinogenic layered compositions that explore stillness, time and the subjectivity of the senses. Inspired by the color separation techniques invented to reproduce images in print, the artist uses an airbrush and stencils to build up a surface of vibrating dots—suggesting the shadow of an image without ever fully bringing it into being. Brasfield’s work, which includes sound art, draws on philosophy, poetry and music—as well as spiritualist and early modernist traditions, particularly in reference to the spatialization of states of mind.
BIO:
Williamson Brasfield was born in Palo Alto, California in 1983. The artist received an MFA in Painting & Printmaking from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and a BFA in Art from Penn State University in Pennsylvania.
Exhibitions of Brasfield’s work include: P.A.D. Retrospective at Walter Elwood Contemporary in Amsterdam, New York (2021); ISCP Benefit Auction in Brooklyn, New York (2021); NADA House, P.A.D. in Governors Island, New York (2021); Live Sound Performance at Domestic Performance Agency in Brooklyn, New York (2019); Ride A Cow To Find A Horse at Beverly’s in New York City (2019); The New Joys of Gellies (w/ Alison Kuo) at Abrons Art Center in New York City (2019); 60hz: Songs of Common Current, with Bomb Bop Up Presents at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, New York (2018); Una Manta De Sudor at Malagana Mácula in Managua, Nicaragua (2018); Summer of Love at Young at Art Museum in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (2017); Re-Juvenation (with Alison Kuo) at Thornwillow Institute in Newburgh, New York (2016); Baby, Will You Please Turn On My Kitchen?, with Jugo Del Cuerpo at Regina Rex/Harbor Gallery in New York City (2015); and BAVNIC IX: 9th Biennial of Visual Arts, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud in Managua, Nicaragua (2014).
Bransfield participated in the Silence/Awareness/Existence thematic residency at Arteles Creative Center in Hämeenkyrö, Finland (2017).
Brasfield lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
