BRANDI MILNE Gallery
HEAVY METAL: I can see from some of your work that you are someone who draws as well as paints. For you, what are the pros and cons of painting vs. other visual approaches, and what kind of materials do you use?
Brandi Milne: Yes! I love drawing and painting pretty much equally, though they are very different and I love the option of going from one to the other! I started drawing when I was as a little kid, just for fun. In a lot of ways, I feel like drawing was my first language as I could (and still feel I can) describe things or tell stories better visually that I can verbally. For me, drawing (I use graphite, colored pencil, and pastel) gives me a pretty strong sense of control. I feel like there's not much that can vary or stray between what I'm imagining and the tip of a pencil; it's a pretty straight shot and it's rather clean compared to the messiness ofpaint.
I didn't pick up a paint brush until way later, maybe in 2006 or 2007. Paint can be much more free and expressive - also so much messier and I don't feel as in control as I do with graphite. I paint in acrylic at the moment - it dries faster and I feel I can manipulate it pretty well, but I can feel the challenge of oils calling!! As I said, I love working in both mediums - it's as if Iose one part of my brain when thinking in pencil and another part when thinking in paint - which is really fun!
HM: Do you think there is a place for humor in your compositions? If so, is it a darker sense of humor, or a more reflective one?
BM: There's most certainly a place for humor in my work! Sometimes it's dark humor, and sometimes more of a silliness. I don't like to take myself too seriously, unless I really need to, and I love to be silly and nonsensical, both in life and in my work! Life is already so serious, the world and all its pain, and I do take that to heart. So, in art - in my art - I make much room to escape and fly away, and find silliness and light hearted cheerwhen I feel it's appropriate!
HM: We’re looking at seasonal and holiday themes in this issue of Heavy Metal magazine, and I’ve seen some seasonal approaches in your work, whether to autumn or to winter scenes, like “Holiday takes a Holiday”. Are you attracted to seasonal ideas because of the way they shape our cultural inheritance and childhoods?
BM: Yes, indeed! The biggest influence to my art was my childhood, and there was lots of celebrating Holidays - mainly Halloween and Christmas. As akid, my mom went ballistic decorating the house for those two holidays, which had a huge impact on me visually. To this day, when September/October roll around, I'm at my most inspired and well through November and December. Nothing compares to childhood whimsy, and I use it as an almost universal language. I think it's important as an adult to be able to tap back into who you were and how your imagination gave your heart wings to dream fantastical dreams as a younger version of yourself. Before you learned who others thought you should be. Before the seriousness of the world changed you in all sorts of ways. Very important...
HM:There’s plenty of visual reference to folk tales and fairy tales in your paintings, like in “Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me In”. As we move further away from the traditions of the past, what do you think is still essential and influential?
BM:I think I may have answered this in the previous question - I really believe as young people we are closer to our true selves than we are as we grow up. For me, I was less hard on myself, less judgmental of who I was, and had an easier time letting myself just be. And in that place of"purity" or innocence/naivité, I could allow myself such freedom of imagination and dreamed big absurd dreams for my life and what I wanted it to be. I was less constrained by reality and less fearful of it, so what went on in my imagination was a bigger possibility. I was more in tune with it because of that. And again, the world can be a really tough place to live; I think it's essential to be able to make room for wild imaginings, creativity and playfulness. Nonsense. Art, music, expression. Freedom of mind. Without that, who are we?
HM: Do you think of any of your recurring characters as personal avatars, or is it more about the viewer finding identification in your work?
BM: Most of the work I create is a sort of self-portrait. Each piece starts or is based off of an emotion that I'm feeling or have experienced. Obviously, I need that emotional connection to draw from personally, or else I'm not truly connected to what I'm creating. So, it's a personal narration that I express, and create a story or feeling around visually, and then my hope is that when others see it, they will be able to connect or relate to it within their ownpersonal experience. Same with music, right? Or any artistic creating!
HM: Where do you think the line can be drawn between something cute and something eerie? Are there visual rules about this in your mind?
BM: I love this question: I've never been asked! ...Gosh, that's hard to put into words. I'm constantly tip-toeing the line of cute and too cute (in which too cute makes me want to puke, I don't like it), so there really needs to be something salty, or serious, or dark and ominous. I rely on the duality of life, the yin and yang - there needs to be at least one note or foot in "darkness".
That to me brings the image back to life - back to reality, and by doing so, the result has more dimension. I used to really resist the dark, sad, scary, heartbreaking moments in classic Disney films (Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio, etc..) until as an adult I realized that without the dark sides of those stories, the achievement of glory or happiness at the end wouldn't be so fulfilling. So, as I go along in creating a piece, this is the balance I'm trying to relay.
HM: What kind of impact has modern pop culture had on you and your creative life, whether films, TV, video games, toys, or the like?
BM: Yipes - pop culture has had a huge impact on me creatively. Being avisual person, I soak up imagery all around me! Movies, children's books, TV shows growing up, TOYS, clothing, wallpaper, wrapping paper - everything! I will say, though, that that all has influenced me visually as I think is very obvious in my work - but MUSIC in one of my biggest influences and inspirations. Music has no visual (aside from visuals we can put to it - videos or watching a person play an instrument or sing), and with no visual, we're left to listen/hear and to FEEL. So, in my process for creating a storytelling image, I start with music. It sets an emotion aflame and I get ideas of how to bring that to life visually. Taking fragments of lyrics and feelings and throwing them into pot, stirring them around, I can then get a subject that I want to carry the story of a piece. I'm jealous of musicians and admire them greatly!
HM: Though your work certainly makes an impact digitally, online, what are the benefits of seeing a tangible painting in a gallery for viewers, and what makes seeing your original paintings on a wall special for you?
BM: The difference is night and day. Digitally, yes, you can see my work, and I'm very grateful for the digital world we live in now - it makes it easier for art to be seen around the world. Access has never been better. But to share space in time with a piece of art - to see it with your own eyes, there is a real spirit that you can (hopefully, if you are sensitive/open to it) truly FEEL. You can breathe it in, it comes across.
I myself didn't really appreciate that until I went to a solo exhibition of one of my favorite artists (Camille Rose Garcia) years ago and had time to view the works by myself, in silence. I think all your senses are included in viewing art in person - rather than just the visual online. It's an experience, one you are part of as you are the viewer, and experiences change you - become part of you. They make you think, they make you feel.
BRANDI MILNE Gallery
HEAVY METAL: I can see from some of your work that you are someone who draws as well as paints. For you, what are the pros and cons of painting vs. other visual approaches, and what kind of materials do you use?
Brandi Milne: Yes! I love drawing and painting pretty much equally, though they are very different and I love the option of going from one to the other! I started drawing when I was as a little kid, just for fun. In a lot of ways, I feel like drawing was my first language as I could (and still feel I can) describe things or tell stories better visually that I can verbally. For me, drawing (I use graphite, colored pencil, and pastel) gives me a pretty strong sense of control. I feel like there's not much that can vary or stray between what I'm imagining and the tip of a pencil; it's a pretty straight shot and it's rather clean compared to the messiness ofpaint.
I didn't pick up a paint brush until way later, maybe in 2006 or 2007. Paint can be much more free and expressive - also so much messier and I don't feel as in control as I do with graphite. I paint in acrylic at the moment - it dries faster and I feel I can manipulate it pretty well, but I can feel the challenge of oils calling!! As I said, I love working in both mediums - it's as if Iose one part of my brain when thinking in pencil and another part when thinking in paint - which is really fun!
HM: Do you think there is a place for humor in your compositions? If so, is it a darker sense of humor, or a more reflective one?
BM: There's most certainly a place for humor in my work! Sometimes it's dark humor, and sometimes more of a silliness. I don't like to take myself too seriously, unless I really need to, and I love to be silly and nonsensical, both in life and in my work! Life is already so serious, the world and all its pain, and I do take that to heart. So, in art - in my art - I make much room to escape and fly away, and find silliness and light hearted cheerwhen I feel it's appropriate!
HM: We’re looking at seasonal and holiday themes in this issue of Heavy Metal magazine, and I’ve seen some seasonal approaches in your work, whether to autumn or to winter scenes, like “Holiday takes a Holiday”. Are you attracted to seasonal ideas because of the way they shape our cultural inheritance and childhoods?
BM: Yes, indeed! The biggest influence to my art was my childhood, and there was lots of celebrating Holidays - mainly Halloween and Christmas. As akid, my mom went ballistic decorating the house for those two holidays, which had a huge impact on me visually. To this day, when September/October roll around, I'm at my most inspired and well through November and December. Nothing compares to childhood whimsy, and I use it as an almost universal language. I think it's important as an adult to be able to tap back into who you were and how your imagination gave your heart wings to dream fantastical dreams as a younger version of yourself. Before you learned who others thought you should be. Before the seriousness of the world changed you in all sorts of ways. Very important...
HM:There’s plenty of visual reference to folk tales and fairy tales in your paintings, like in “Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me In”. As we move further away from the traditions of the past, what do you think is still essential and influential?
BM:I think I may have answered this in the previous question - I really believe as young people we are closer to our true selves than we are as we grow up. For me, I was less hard on myself, less judgmental of who I was, and had an easier time letting myself just be. And in that place of"purity" or innocence/naivité, I could allow myself such freedom of imagination and dreamed big absurd dreams for my life and what I wanted it to be. I was less constrained by reality and less fearful of it, so what went on in my imagination was a bigger possibility. I was more in tune with it because of that. And again, the world can be a really tough place to live; I think it's essential to be able to make room for wild imaginings, creativity and playfulness. Nonsense. Art, music, expression. Freedom of mind. Without that, who are we?
HM: Do you think of any of your recurring characters as personal avatars, or is it more about the viewer finding identification in your work?
BM: Most of the work I create is a sort of self-portrait. Each piece starts or is based off of an emotion that I'm feeling or have experienced. Obviously, I need that emotional connection to draw from personally, or else I'm not truly connected to what I'm creating. So, it's a personal narration that I express, and create a story or feeling around visually, and then my hope is that when others see it, they will be able to connect or relate to it within their ownpersonal experience. Same with music, right? Or any artistic creating!
HM: Where do you think the line can be drawn between something cute and something eerie? Are there visual rules about this in your mind?
BM: I love this question: I've never been asked! ...Gosh, that's hard to put into words. I'm constantly tip-toeing the line of cute and too cute (in which too cute makes me want to puke, I don't like it), so there really needs to be something salty, or serious, or dark and ominous. I rely on the duality of life, the yin and yang - there needs to be at least one note or foot in "darkness".
That to me brings the image back to life - back to reality, and by doing so, the result has more dimension. I used to really resist the dark, sad, scary, heartbreaking moments in classic Disney films (Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio, etc..) until as an adult I realized that without the dark sides of those stories, the achievement of glory or happiness at the end wouldn't be so fulfilling. So, as I go along in creating a piece, this is the balance I'm trying to relay.
HM: What kind of impact has modern pop culture had on you and your creative life, whether films, TV, video games, toys, or the like?
BM: Yipes - pop culture has had a huge impact on me creatively. Being avisual person, I soak up imagery all around me! Movies, children's books, TV shows growing up, TOYS, clothing, wallpaper, wrapping paper - everything! I will say, though, that that all has influenced me visually as I think is very obvious in my work - but MUSIC in one of my biggest influences and inspirations. Music has no visual (aside from visuals we can put to it - videos or watching a person play an instrument or sing), and with no visual, we're left to listen/hear and to FEEL. So, in my process for creating a storytelling image, I start with music. It sets an emotion aflame and I get ideas of how to bring that to life visually. Taking fragments of lyrics and feelings and throwing them into pot, stirring them around, I can then get a subject that I want to carry the story of a piece. I'm jealous of musicians and admire them greatly!
HM: Though your work certainly makes an impact digitally, online, what are the benefits of seeing a tangible painting in a gallery for viewers, and what makes seeing your original paintings on a wall special for you?
BM: The difference is night and day. Digitally, yes, you can see my work, and I'm very grateful for the digital world we live in now - it makes it easier for art to be seen around the world. Access has never been better. But to share space in time with a piece of art - to see it with your own eyes, there is a real spirit that you can (hopefully, if you are sensitive/open to it) truly FEEL. You can breathe it in, it comes across.
I myself didn't really appreciate that until I went to a solo exhibition of one of my favorite artists (Camille Rose Garcia) years ago and had time to view the works by myself, in silence. I think all your senses are included in viewing art in person - rather than just the visual online. It's an experience, one you are part of as you are the viewer, and experiences change you - become part of you. They make you think, they make you feel.
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HEAVY METAL: I can see from some of your work that you are someone who draws as well as paints. For you, what are the pros and cons of painting vs. other visual approaches, and what kind of materials do you use?
Brandi Milne: Yes! I love drawing and painting pretty much equally, though they are very different and I love the option of going from one to the other! I started drawing when I was as a little kid, just for fun. In a lot of ways, I feel like drawing was my first language as I could (and still feel I can) describe things or tell stories better visually that I can verbally. For me, drawing (I use graphite, colored pencil, and pastel) gives me a pretty strong sense of control. I feel like there's not much that can vary or stray between what I'm imagining and the tip of a pencil; it's a pretty straight shot and it's rather clean compared to the messiness ofpaint.
I didn't pick up a paint brush until way later, maybe in 2006 or 2007. Paint can be much more free and expressive - also so much messier and I don't feel as in control as I do with graphite. I paint in acrylic at the moment - it dries faster and I feel I can manipulate it pretty well, but I can feel the challenge of oils calling!! As I said, I love working in both mediums - it's as if Iose one part of my brain when thinking in pencil and another part when thinking in paint - which is really fun!
HM: Do you think there is a place for humor in your compositions? If so, is it a darker sense of humor, or a more reflective one?
BM: There's most certainly a place for humor in my work! Sometimes it's dark humor, and sometimes more of a silliness. I don't like to take myself too seriously, unless I really need to, and I love to be silly and nonsensical, both in life and in my work! Life is already so serious, the world and all its pain, and I do take that to heart. So, in art - in my art - I make much room to escape and fly away, and find silliness and light hearted cheerwhen I feel it's appropriate!
HM: We’re looking at seasonal and holiday themes in this issue of Heavy Metal magazine, and I’ve seen some seasonal approaches in your work, whether to autumn or to winter scenes, like “Holiday takes a Holiday”. Are you attracted to seasonal ideas because of the way they shape our cultural inheritance and childhoods?
BM: Yes, indeed! The biggest influence to my art was my childhood, and there was lots of celebrating Holidays - mainly Halloween and Christmas. As akid, my mom went ballistic decorating the house for those two holidays, which had a huge impact on me visually. To this day, when September/October roll around, I'm at my most inspired and well through November and December. Nothing compares to childhood whimsy, and I use it as an almost universal language. I think it's important as an adult to be able to tap back into who you were and how your imagination gave your heart wings to dream fantastical dreams as a younger version of yourself. Before you learned who others thought you should be. Before the seriousness of the world changed you in all sorts of ways. Very important...
HM:There’s plenty of visual reference to folk tales and fairy tales in your paintings, like in “Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me In”. As we move further away from the traditions of the past, what do you think is still essential and influential?
BM:I think I may have answered this in the previous question - I really believe as young people we are closer to our true selves than we are as we grow up. For me, I was less hard on myself, less judgmental of who I was, and had an easier time letting myself just be. And in that place of"purity" or innocence/naivité, I could allow myself such freedom of imagination and dreamed big absurd dreams for my life and what I wanted it to be. I was less constrained by reality and less fearful of it, so what went on in my imagination was a bigger possibility. I was more in tune with it because of that. And again, the world can be a really tough place to live; I think it's essential to be able to make room for wild imaginings, creativity and playfulness. Nonsense. Art, music, expression. Freedom of mind. Without that, who are we?
HM: Do you think of any of your recurring characters as personal avatars, or is it more about the viewer finding identification in your work?
BM: Most of the work I create is a sort of self-portrait. Each piece starts or is based off of an emotion that I'm feeling or have experienced. Obviously, I need that emotional connection to draw from personally, or else I'm not truly connected to what I'm creating. So, it's a personal narration that I express, and create a story or feeling around visually, and then my hope is that when others see it, they will be able to connect or relate to it within their ownpersonal experience. Same with music, right? Or any artistic creating!
HM: Where do you think the line can be drawn between something cute and something eerie? Are there visual rules about this in your mind?
BM: I love this question: I've never been asked! ...Gosh, that's hard to put into words. I'm constantly tip-toeing the line of cute and too cute (in which too cute makes me want to puke, I don't like it), so there really needs to be something salty, or serious, or dark and ominous. I rely on the duality of life, the yin and yang - there needs to be at least one note or foot in "darkness".
That to me brings the image back to life - back to reality, and by doing so, the result has more dimension. I used to really resist the dark, sad, scary, heartbreaking moments in classic Disney films (Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio, etc..) until as an adult I realized that without the dark sides of those stories, the achievement of glory or happiness at the end wouldn't be so fulfilling. So, as I go along in creating a piece, this is the balance I'm trying to relay.
HM: What kind of impact has modern pop culture had on you and your creative life, whether films, TV, video games, toys, or the like?
BM: Yipes - pop culture has had a huge impact on me creatively. Being avisual person, I soak up imagery all around me! Movies, children's books, TV shows growing up, TOYS, clothing, wallpaper, wrapping paper - everything! I will say, though, that that all has influenced me visually as I think is very obvious in my work - but MUSIC in one of my biggest influences and inspirations. Music has no visual (aside from visuals we can put to it - videos or watching a person play an instrument or sing), and with no visual, we're left to listen/hear and to FEEL. So, in my process for creating a storytelling image, I start with music. It sets an emotion aflame and I get ideas of how to bring that to life visually. Taking fragments of lyrics and feelings and throwing them into pot, stirring them around, I can then get a subject that I want to carry the story of a piece. I'm jealous of musicians and admire them greatly!
HM: Though your work certainly makes an impact digitally, online, what are the benefits of seeing a tangible painting in a gallery for viewers, and what makes seeing your original paintings on a wall special for you?
BM: The difference is night and day. Digitally, yes, you can see my work, and I'm very grateful for the digital world we live in now - it makes it easier for art to be seen around the world. Access has never been better. But to share space in time with a piece of art - to see it with your own eyes, there is a real spirit that you can (hopefully, if you are sensitive/open to it) truly FEEL. You can breathe it in, it comes across.
I myself didn't really appreciate that until I went to a solo exhibition of one of my favorite artists (Camille Rose Garcia) years ago and had time to view the works by myself, in silence. I think all your senses are included in viewing art in person - rather than just the visual online. It's an experience, one you are part of as you are the viewer, and experiences change you - become part of you. They make you think, they make you feel.
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