Anita Brey. Artist Statment. Bio. Resume.
Artist Statement.
Art is a fantastic place for discovery and exploration. Often when I’m painting, I create a sanctuary to play, have fun and release. I find myself entertaining emotions, patterns, ideas, lost dreams, future aspirations and desires. Sometimes, they are very demanding and ask for things like piping hot tea and fresh baked scones. Usually, I only give them color, pattern and if they are on their best behavior, texture. Eventually, when we’ve had a thorough chat, the painting “POPS.” Layers and layers of bright colored shiny plastic attract and repel me, as an image presents itself. I marvel that it came from my hands. Art acts as a mirror reflecting back, it’s usually amusing, but it ain’t always pretty.
Biography.
Anita Brey is an American artist, born in Minnesota in 1971. She graduated in 1996 with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting, summa cum laude, from Arizona State University. She was supported with grants from the Contemporary Forum among others.
Anita Brey paints in San Francisco, only a ten minute drive from the USA. Her love for pattern, particularly its supernatural and metaphysical aspects, create an underlying structure in her vibrant paintings. Capturing the unseen energetic interactions between people and the world around them inspire her subject matter. Currently, her influences include Paula Rego, Frank Stella, Alex Gray, Tom Tomorrow and Roger Shimomura. Ms. Brey prefers to paint on a daily basis, considering it a form of fundamental spiritual practice and just plain fun.
Resume.
Education
B.F.A., Painting Summa Cum Laude, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ December 1996
Textile Design California School of Professional Fabric Design, Sept. 2000-June 2001
Residencies
International Art Center Tucson, AZ January 1998-March 1999
Awards & Grants
Honors Studio Award, Arizona State University January 1996
Eli Marcus Studio Art Scholarship April 1996
Contemporary Forum Scult Studio Art Scholarship 1996
Bibliography
Admit2 November 2004
Spiral Muse October 2004
Make Magazine Fall 2004
The Quarterly Staple Fall 2004
Down There Magazine September 2004
Cover Art for the Psychic Reader Newspaper Berkeley, CA April 2002
Java Magazine ‘Life Shared’ by Jeff Heins Review of Graduate Show Tempe, AZ Dec. 1996
