Powerful Silence by Bren Head
1 September – 6 October
Opening 7:30pm Friday 31 August
Faces return the viewers gaze, light glinting in eyes, their countenance obscured by paint. Bren Head's portraits are ones of balance and contrast. Eyes stare from faces sculpted by means of expressive mark making and subtractive painting techniques.
“The often brightly coloured and richly worked surfaces of Bren Head's paintings create an intensity to her portraits which both seduce and unsettle the viewer. Fabulous work from one of the region's most exciting portrait artists.” Karen Sherwood. Director & Curator.
Bren Head's portraits are ones of balance and contrast. Eyes stare from faces sculpted by means of expressive mark making and subtractive painting techniques.
Bren employs a variety of media in her work; acrylic, oil, wax, plaster, textiles and collage to explore texture and surface. Working from intuition rather than pre- meditation, and through a process of creation and destruction, the paint and mark making often dictate what appears. Scratched, scarred, and often destroyed and re -worked she returns to the work many times until she is satisfied with the finish.
“I labour over my paintings for some time, building up texture and colour, only to destroy it to reveal tender and vulnerable places concealed underneath.” Bren Head
Bren will be exhibiting around 40 mixed media works on paper, canvas and board across two gallery spaces. Sizes vary from 33 cm square to over 1.5m. Prices from £600 - £3000.
Bren Head holds a BA Hons in Fine Art and Art History from the University of Hull and lives and works in Ravenscar, North Yorkshire.
Bren has exhibited widely in the U.K. including with The Royal Society of Portrait Painters and The Ruth Borchard Portrait Prize.
She has work in The Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st. Century Painting and was selected for the Contemporary Portrait Award at The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle. 2016
Bren has work in private collections internationally.