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Brian James Spies: Bio

Brian James Spies is a painter who works in an abstract style that references language

as well as issues rising from his own complicated personal narrative. He was born and

raised in rural central Pennsylvania as the eldest child in a large extended Irish Catholic

Family. Brian graduated with honors from Lycoming College in Williamsport,

Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art with a Concentration in Photography

in 2002. He took seven years off to work in everything from graphic design to photo

restoration. In 2010 Brian graduated from The Maryland Institute College of Art with a

Certificate from The Post-Baccalaureate Program. As of Fall 2010 he will be enrolled as

an MFA Candidate at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. During his hiatus

from school Brian showed his work in a variety of spaces ranging from group shows at

The Coachella Arts and Music Festival to The First Annual Art Parade in downtown New

York City that was hosted by Deitch Projects and Paper Magazine.
Brian James Spies: Artist Statement

I am painter whose colorful abstract works deal primarily with the concept of

memory. My work is concerned with how trauma and memory can become convoluted

and intertwined. I use language pulled from journal entries and popular culture as the

visual source material for my work. I then abstract this text to show how memory can

become obstructed by our desires and the pull of nostalgia. I hope to explore these

broader notions by relying upon my own personal narrative in the belief that there is

something universal in a half remembered love song and a recollection of a shared glance

that might have meant something had we only acted upon it. My palette is intentionally

celebratory in contrast to the melancholy current that runs through the work itself. I

believe that this conflict creates a sort of push and pull in the work that acknowledges the

tug of this very human desire to not address our own memories. I very much understand

the desire to either sugar coat or shut out the past and it is my hope that by using a palette

that embraces this I am able to engage an audience that would otherwise shun this kind of

dialogue. It is my ultimate goal in this work to shed some semblance of light upon how

no matter how hard we try we can’t run from our past and that our efforts to erase or

rewrite these collective experiences only brings them back to the foreground. In the end I

hope that the work demonstrates that the only way we can truly resolve the contradictions

of our personal and collective memories is through an honest examination and not

through the twin pitfalls of ignorance and nostalgia. Ultimately our present and our future

are dependant upon our ability as a culture and as individuals to confront and address the

good and the bad of our past in an open and honest manner.
Brian James Spies: Resume

EDUCATION
1997 - 2000: Enrolled at The Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, PA
2000 – 2002: BA in Studio Art from Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA Spring
2008: Enrolled as a Non-Degree Seeking Graduate Student at The Fine Art Department at
Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA
Fall 2009 / Spring 2010: Enrolled In The Post-Baccalaureate Fine Art Program at The
Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD
2010 - 2012: MFA Candidate at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in
Philadelphia, PA

GROUP + SOLO SHOWS


November 1997: Behind Bars (a group show at The Old Jail in Williamsport, PA)
April 2002: The Last Supper: Senior Exhibition (Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA)
March 2003: EAT (a solo show at the Coffee N Tea Room in Williamsport, PA)
April 2005: TRASHed (an exhibition of decorated recycling bins, Various locations
throughout California including The Lab 101 and The Coachella Arts and Music Festival
in Indio, CA)
September 2005: The First Annual Art Parade Sponsored by Deitch Projects (a group
performance art exhibit in SoHo, NYC)
June 2006: The Munny Film Festival (a stop action film festival sponsored by KidRobot
Toys)
May 2007: Kitchen Kitsch (a group show at The Chris Young Art Gallery and Studio in
Williamsport, PA)
July 2009: Moving Sale (a solo show of recent paintings at Julie’s Coffee in
Williamsport, PA)
December 2009: Camper Contemporary (a group exhibit at Art Basel: Miami Beach
curated by Calder Brannock)
January 2010: Momentum (a group show of Post-Bacc work in Fox 3 at The Maryland
Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD)

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