About the Artist
Brian Rock
“I challenge you to look into yourself, and if I have identified a communal feeling, the purpose of all art has succeeded.” – Brian Rock
Award-winning artist Brian Rock utilizes a variety of objects and techniques to create works that convey strong sentimentality, promote healing, and expose hidden depths in the human condition.
Rock has mastered the creative use of layered, multi-media structures, challenging his audience to examine themselves through his art. Rock’s themes explore the intricacies of our collective human consciousness: the dense textures and details created through movement and shadow mimic the human journey in their imperfection and nuance.
Inspired by his life experience, Rock creates abstract expressions of memories, moods, thoughts, and the environment. His unique technique of hand mixing his mediums directly onto the canvas, allows Rock a direct contact with the audience, imprinting his memories and sharing his healing process on each one of his paintings. Making use of mixed media, Rock creates works that showcase remnants of war. He uses dirt, glass, ash, wire, nails, bullet casings, and shrapnel—applying colors and found objects to create conceptual compositions, importing symbolic references that maintain a connection with reality, and focus on a more direct view of our society.
Post NY Jesus
Journey Unfinished Purposely
His “Self Identities’” collection grapples with the ephemeral, and yet, on a deeper level, the rock stable nature of the self. Abstract shapes and forms are tied together by the impressionistic portrayals of faces. The color palette and lines draw rich in expression.
Rock’s style is compounded by his original canvases, layered with paints, and found object collages, as seen in his critiques of modern society in pieces such as “Playground and Burn.” His use of recycled plastic and barbed wire in “Pete” is a hallmark example of this aspect of his work. These pieces highlight alarming societal realities, such as the commodification of humans, violence, and suffering.
A move from NYC to New Mexico allowed him to embrace the culture of the southwestern United States, influencing a shift in his creative inspiration. His work took on new depth and aesthetic as he utilizes metal and a vibrant color palette. Rock has created urban art installations in his new home of New Mexico, ensuring that generations will have access to viewing and interacting with art.
All this complexity behind the work of Brian Rock can be seen as an honest and vulnerable testimony of his life’s journey, a statement that is of significant influence as it leaves an open invitation for others to relate. Rock uses vibrant, warm, and chromatic colors, with inviting textures showcasing his world within ours. Using his art as a healing source, Rock is vocal about the definite influence art has had in his life during his journey of overcoming trauma. Living with the desire to give back as a veteran, he is active with several charities and contributes to his community through empowerment and creativity. Rocks’ work is the open expression of uncertainty in healing, and he continues to live his truth through it.
