ROOM 13　BRIAN ALFRED

Brian Alfred depicts scenes that reflect modern society in paintings, collages, and digital animations. In his works, we see the contemporary condition: an information society brought about by technological advancements, conflicts and social issues arising around the world, and architectural designs that create urban landscapes. On the other hand, they also contain what might be called scenes from the imagination: simplified, beautiful natural vistas and other images likely to inspire nostalgia in anyone. Between these seemingly contradictory impressions, the viewer senses the reality of people living in contemporary times.
In creating his works, Alfred makes reference to traditional painting while employing digital animation and other modern media, flexibly moving back and forth between the two and even experimenting with other elements such as collaboration with musicians. His thematic material includes scenes from his travels that left a lasting impression on him, news footage that influenced him strongly, and the various photographs, videos, games, comics, and advertisements that flow into everyday life from the internet. He creates his work based on his strong interest in how those images influence our perception and in what form those perceptions spread through technology. Infinite information and diverse images are flattened to a two-dimensional world, appearing in its final form as eerily silent scenes, devoid of humans and drawn in simplified lines and colours. Three of Alfred’s paintings are on display in this room. Snow, Stars, Slopes is from a series depicting the scenes Alfred saw when visiting the northern parts of New York state for snowboarding. Each painting in the series contains either the moon or the sun. Tsumari House shows an unbuilt art house proposed for the Tsumari area of Niigata Prefecture.Aurora Borealis beautifully depicts the titular optical phenomenon, a theme Alfred has returned to repeatedly, appearing in the atmosphere.