Brian Mustari
New England based artist born in RI with roots in Chicago, Boston, Providence, and points beyond. Currently residing near the forest, he has lived in the sea, on the land, and on the composite substance which so thoroughly covers the aforementioned land - in various urban centers of North America. As a youth he was always taking things apart and putting them back together. After discovering that he could express himself artistically by writing prose and poetry in his early teens, he embarked on creative ventures of many kinds.
With a belief in the strength of the pen he often relates his works to writing, whether they be visual, auditory, or the conceptual work of writing with one's own life-blood through one's actions. Collapsing the expansive in the most minimal way has become one of the common themes of his work, as has boundary disillusion and the elementary idea, as explained in what is called the Perennial Philosophy. For a long time his education in art and graphic design has kept the use of letter form and text completely out of his artwork, as art and design are regarded as separate entities. He is now exploring the use of text and letter form in his paintings, not as design, not as text, but as conceptual and symbolic elements of composition where the resonance of meaning affects the quality of the stroke from the hand to the medium.
Having somewhat refined a process that I am currently exploring in my painting, my work plan is grounded in developing fundamental skills. As the first in my immediate family to attend college, and without much family to fall back on, I have spent so much of my time working that I relish the chance to devote serious time to developing my skills in drawing from life, capturing light, and meaningful use of negative space.
My plan is to work on three main aspects of development each day. I will draw from life using graphite/charcoal and ink wash in various studies of the fundamentals as an exercise to increase my ability to depict what I see in two dimensions. I plan on drawing plants, landscapes, and perhaps figures should there be any willing models for figure drawing. I see this basic persistence of drawing practice as key to augmenting my professional development. I also plan to carve one small head out of wood each day. These heads take less than an hour, will provide contrast to my 2D work, and will serve as a daily record of my residency. The latter part of the day I will reserve for delving into my painting, exploring and refining my current process. The process I am currently exploring is as follows: I measure my canvas, panel, or paper if I have not built it to a specific dimension, and lay out some basic proportions based on the golden mean.
Next I apply whatever concept I am exploring as a free-form thought process as texture onto the piece with little concern for proportion. This layer serves as an under painting which may be completely concealed in the end but usually aspects reveal themselves and become reinforced as I continue. After this step I decide on an appropriate meditative posture from my studies of tai chi or sometimes any physical task that resonates with the concept, and I mark out where my acupuncture points (more specifically “the seven stars”) fall onto the canvas when I assume that posture.
I use these points, organic and based on my own proportions, to break from the underlying grid-lines and geometry that I use as my grid in the under painting. I draw correlations between the mathematical geometry and the organic form to structure the piece. Once this is done I begin the painting manifesting forms and concepts where their meaning and proportions can be explored in relation to the under painting. So far I have included various birds in these pieces, birds I drew from taxidermy specimens from the RISD nature lab. I hope to learn what I can do with this exploration of relationship between concept and form.
Header: Brian Mustari, Detail of Soothing Syrup
With a belief in the strength of the pen he often relates his works to writing, whether they be visual, auditory, or the conceptual work of writing with one's own life-blood through one's actions. Collapsing the expansive in the most minimal way has become one of the common themes of his work, as has boundary disillusion and the elementary idea, as explained in what is called the Perennial Philosophy. For a long time his education in art and graphic design has kept the use of letter form and text completely out of his artwork, as art and design are regarded as separate entities. He is now exploring the use of text and letter form in his paintings, not as design, not as text, but as conceptual and symbolic elements of composition where the resonance of meaning affects the quality of the stroke from the hand to the medium.
Having somewhat refined a process that I am currently exploring in my painting, my work plan is grounded in developing fundamental skills. As the first in my immediate family to attend college, and without much family to fall back on, I have spent so much of my time working that I relish the chance to devote serious time to developing my skills in drawing from life, capturing light, and meaningful use of negative space.
My plan is to work on three main aspects of development each day. I will draw from life using graphite/charcoal and ink wash in various studies of the fundamentals as an exercise to increase my ability to depict what I see in two dimensions. I plan on drawing plants, landscapes, and perhaps figures should there be any willing models for figure drawing. I see this basic persistence of drawing practice as key to augmenting my professional development. I also plan to carve one small head out of wood each day. These heads take less than an hour, will provide contrast to my 2D work, and will serve as a daily record of my residency. The latter part of the day I will reserve for delving into my painting, exploring and refining my current process. The process I am currently exploring is as follows: I measure my canvas, panel, or paper if I have not built it to a specific dimension, and lay out some basic proportions based on the golden mean.
Next I apply whatever concept I am exploring as a free-form thought process as texture onto the piece with little concern for proportion. This layer serves as an under painting which may be completely concealed in the end but usually aspects reveal themselves and become reinforced as I continue. After this step I decide on an appropriate meditative posture from my studies of tai chi or sometimes any physical task that resonates with the concept, and I mark out where my acupuncture points (more specifically “the seven stars”) fall onto the canvas when I assume that posture.
I use these points, organic and based on my own proportions, to break from the underlying grid-lines and geometry that I use as my grid in the under painting. I draw correlations between the mathematical geometry and the organic form to structure the piece. Once this is done I begin the painting manifesting forms and concepts where their meaning and proportions can be explored in relation to the under painting. So far I have included various birds in these pieces, birds I drew from taxidermy specimens from the RISD nature lab. I hope to learn what I can do with this exploration of relationship between concept and form.
Header: Brian Mustari, Detail of Soothing Syrup
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