Judith Brandon
Artist's Bio
Judith graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1987 with degrees in drawing and enameling. It is the enameling techniques of scribing metal and the layering of transparent and opaque colors that are the foundation for her paintings.
She has had several solo shows and has been invited to participate in shows
all across the country from California to New York. She is known in the Cleveland area for having the only full scale
art exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo where she created over 70 works
of art to raise awareness of the dwindling rhino populations.
Her subject matter originates from memory and postcard sized watercolors. Oceans, rain,
mist and ice; water in all of it's forms and all of it's locations are an endless source
of inspiration for her work. The delicate yet immense power
of water combined with the solitude of the horizon line the emphasize Brandon's
path of exploring the earth's fragility. Her recent works continue to challenge our view of the earth as a planet within a wilderness of uninhabital stars. Where there once were animals struggling in vague amiguous landscapes we now see these vast landscapes melting away under the forces of nature. There is a progress; from the lone voiceless creatures to their imperrilled landscapes, The message comes across like a song without words. The tone is the map but the story is within the viewer.
In many ways her work is about the materials themselves. There is an action happening in her landscapes, sometimes violent tearing and dripping from water and dye soaked paper. There are also many layers of scored and erased texture. Thin graded washes of color and the overlapping blackness of ground charcoals add a technical depth to the immediate drama of her work. It is the combination of detail and color that creates a silent urgency. Echoing the mesmerizing and complex qualities of water, Brandon´s paintings lure you into her world of beauty then fix you with the uneasy feeling imminent danger and destruction.