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Lucian Freud. Like Freud’s works, Breerwood’s portraits have a realistic quality and deep paint techniques. They also represent the end process of the creative experience. He frequently creates his portraits during an extended period of time and with little use of photographs for assistance. In Broken (2010), which will be seen at his October exhibition in Chickasha, OK, Breerwood’s portraits take a new turn. The main figure in this painting is essentially a non-figurative self-portrait, a dog that represents the artist. The dog, with tail tucked between his legs, is obediently being pulled by the forces of mankind, represented by an almost non-existent woman. The woman is seen only as her leg walks off of the canvas.
“That’s the psychology of an abstractionist. They are explorers. They are searching for the right answer. It’s a hard transition for me because I tend to think more like a realist, I’m hunting. I have a clear visual idea in my head of what something in my painting should look like. I’m hunting for the right color combinations to match the picture I see in my head. But there comes a point when the painting starts to head in a different direction under its own momentum and I have to decide if I should take control again or follow.”
As a whole, the new paintings also represent a different creative process. Breerwood, who is also a musician, found that his songs and paintings evolved together.
“I don’t distinguish between different forms of art, whether it is the visual arts, or music, or literature. It’s all an attempt to express something meaningful in the world. For me, it’s all art.”
“Sometimes the painting and the song lyrics came together at the same time. Other times, the painting may be based on only one lyric. In my latest paintings, I am incorporating lyrical content into symbolic language, converting non-visual elements into something visual. It’s an old abstractionist idea that a good abstract painting should have music to it,” Breerwood said.
Breerwood’s next exhibition, entitled An Inherent Condition, will be October 8, 2010 through November 5, 2010 at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Art Gallery in Chickasha, OK. For more information, visit USAO’s Web site at www.usao.edu. n
Breerwood’s work also visually blends the qualities between representational and nonrepresentational art. Although he is primarily a representational painter, Breerwood’s representational pieces include heavy abstract qualities.
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“When I paint, I’m looking at the tiny little spaces. There are deliberate shapes created within the negative spaces in my paintings,” Breerwood said.
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Karen Paul is a freelance writer based in Norman. She is currently working on her Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma.