“Meaningful Media: The Layered Art of Brian Shaw”

By Laurencia Ciprus

Mr. Lincoln rocking Ray-Bans, super-happy-deep-sea elephants cruising under cruise ships...the mugshots of Jim Morrison and Marilyn Monroe. This is just a taste of the surrealist pieces, and we haven’t even touched on the layers of sexy textural abstracts. It’s all the brilliant, fun, artistic stuff of Brian Shaw. The real-deal-nice-guy collage and mixed-media artist extraordinaire. With 15 years of gorgeous output, Brian remains kindly modest and downplaying collective kudos for his eye-grabbing creativity. It’s clearly about the work, not the ego. There’s a personal passion for the electricity of his process-driven work – precise work shot with color and detail that draws the attention. We’re relaxing and talking art on this summer evening along with his biggest supporters: girlfriend Mykel and her young, teenaged son Jake. (Jake ¬– inspired by the stacks of Brian’s works – is already making his own collages. He shyly whispers to his mentor, “When will I be in a magazine?”) Brian unwraps years of work from a seemingly bottomless bin for us to review. He posits out loud about the way the public viewer connects with his pieces. “Small-scale work seems to challenge people. They’re dared to be drawn in closer; really examine the work and enjoy a uniquely personal experience.”

Clearly, there’s a provocative backstory to arrive at this career point. While Brian continues to dive and pull from his archive of color and happiness – eager to share – I put him on the spot; coaxing him to describe his process. There is a pause and thoughtful head-tip; light bulb lit. “I have a BA in Business Management, and my day job is technical and in the corporate world. That said, I’ve been drawing since I was 4 and well, I just grew tired of it.” Shaw was impatient and restless with the trite creative limits of paint and pencils. He was itching for a breakthrough. How do you short circuit the traditional artistic process for instant gratification? He found his eureka moment flipping through a National Geographic magazine about 15 years ago, unearthing a ready source of endless color on the glossy pages of monthly mags. Shaw’s signature process incubated in a flurry of torn pages and provocative images he began amassing from mountains of glossy mags and assorted ephemera. The artist finally answered his personal challenge to recreate the colors in his mind’s eye with the ready-made visuals he found in paper and magazine imagery.

His highly successful first piece illustrates this idea. The vibrant Chrysler logo, a testament to the artist’s organized business mind with layer upon layer of minuscule paper bits cut with a surgeon’s precision. “Thinking about digital versus analog work, I’ve challenged myself to see if my fine cuts can beat digital accuracy.” A meticulous image of a 1953 Buick Special followed – equally detailed and assembled in four-paneled modules. Next, a 1941 Caddy in similar style; enhanced with the addition of iridescent foils. This theme took hold and more followed along in similar fashion.

“I think about John Chamberlain when I consider my work.” (Chamberlain’s striking colorful sculptures were in actuality at second look, constructed of twisted automotive scrap metal.) “The way I approach art – (in sections and puzzle parts) – agrees with Chamberlain’s idea that, ‘everything has a fit.’” Gerhardt Richter’s controversial and much-debated Squeegee Paintings – yes...made with a squeegee and a scraper ¬– egged Shaw on, to keep pushing past the artistic limits of simple tools and materials.

Speaking of tools, a pivotal piece was Brian’s first rendition of a Victorinox Swiss Army knife. “My original Swiss Army knife was one of the first ten works I created. It was also the first piece I managed to sell!” Shaw reached out to the marketing gurus at Victorinox about the piece. “I sent along a few pictures, and there was a flurry of emails inquiring about me and how I created my art. I also told the Swiss executives how much I loved their knives.” A few weeks later, Shaw received a reply from the company explaining that the Elseners – the family that owns and operates Victorinox, “...loves all fan art relating to their company’s cutlery, and they were quite interested to know how much I wanted for it.” The Victorinox folks were bowled over with the piece with one caveat. He was asked to change the date on the knife in his image from 1891 to 1884 – commemorating the exact year the company began supplying their knives to the Swiss Army. Transaction completed: the work traveled to Switzerland; hanging in one of the main meeting rooms at Victorinox Headquarters. A huge deal coup for the evolving artist!

Shaw’s early representational works appear simple but are incredibly complex in their execution. The actual process is impossibly intricate. Works often consist of hundreds of minuscule half-bites of paper morsels morphing into stunning clarity. Fifteen years into his career, Shaw’s expanding body of work continues to evolve – shuttling in style between surrealism and his original signature of mixed-media abstraction. Current work is deeper and more sophisticated, with modular layers of vibrant color, full of surprises...provoking, irreverent and ingenious. The new goods are more developed; incorporating an expanded lexicon of materials used and some clever tricks with assembly. There’s also more to the color...deeper and more complex with amazing shading and movement.

With a pool of unstoppable work on the living room floor that evening, there is instant excitement in the look twice visuals, and you’re hooked. The delivery sings pitch-perfect in a rich language of innovative found media and WOW...there is all kinds of stuff embedded in the canvas! The artist started out scrounging goodies from flea markets, and everything that could be potential material was – and is – up for grabs. Found items have been plastic shards, donated stacks of long-expired magazines and even a crosshatched foil layer autopsied from the innards of a Goldfish Cracker bag.

Shaw’s use of unexpected textures invites a deeper dive in. The 12” x 12” Poltergeist is small and intimate. It is designed to radiate from a central point. There’s a surprise of opalescence to stop your eye, with Shaw’s addition of a waxed paper layer, cleverly opaquing areas of the canvas into deep frosty pools. Mesh is a fascinating modular piece – created in highly dimensional sections of 100-150 pieces. The base material is a handmade paper constructed from a slurry of liquified pulp. Next, a bright piece of yellow plastic was added, and then the entire confection actually built off the page in modules. Bad Day at the Beach is a retro pink polka dot, tissue paper nod to hot bikini summers.

There’s the Newtown piece. Shaw’s local ties to Sandy Hook and Newtown are the catalyst for this architectural turn...an early September exhibition in mind. The artist wanted to offer locals a recognizable image to embrace. “I found a photo of Newtown’s oldest commercial building – 33 Main St. The original is black and white and based on the automobiles, I dated it from the mid to late 1940s. I’m translating it to the best of my ability and artistic license into a 16” x 20” full-color rendition.” Per usual, his latest best is superb.

Brian Shaw exhibits regionally, with previous group shows at The Washington Art Association, Kent Art Association and Ridgefield Guild of Artists plus, several solo exhibits.

For information on the artist’s work and upcoming exhibitions visit @brianlikespaper on Instagram.