Brett Amory Archives

Lazarides is pleased to present Internal Dialogue, a new series of works by American contemporary artist and BP Portrait Award 2016 exhibiting artist Brett Amory.

Corresponding with his critically acclaimed ‘Waiting’ series, the works in Internal Dialogue are concerned with everyday life, places, and people, yet this new body of work explores the time in which we live and how we make sense of the information that surrounds us.

Internal Dialogue explores the disjointed snapshots that make up our everyday life, and how our unconscious mind assembles these abstract, nonlinear events to attempt to fuse together a logical, linear explanation of our surroundings.

Brett Amory Internal Dialogue Lazarides Rathbone | Art-Pie — Click to enlarge

This new series of works is also concerned with the human habit of viewing the world through screens. People in today’s society are attached to their devices; we view the world through our phones, our TVs, our computers, and complete the gaps of the surrounding world through our unconscious mind, as if what we see now is framed by what the world looks like on screen.

With each painting in Internal Dialogue, Amory allows the viewer to tap his or her unconscious mind to create their own meaning of what they are viewing. The viewer will be able to rely on their own memories, dreams, thoughts and universal archetypal symbols to create their own interpretation of the painting.

In the same week as his exhibition at Lazarides Rathbone, Brett Amory’s work for the prestigious BP Portrait Award will be unveiled at The National Portrait Gallery. His entry, selected out of 2,557 competing artists, will be one of 53 works shown at the iconic art institution from 23 June – 4 September 2016. Amory has also been shortlisted for the BP Travel Grant.

Intentional Abstractions is Brett Amory first UK solo show and first show of the year at The Outsiders

The works on display are part of the ‘Waiting’ series Brett Amory started back in 2001 in which he depicts morning commuters transiting via BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations around San Francisco.

Here is what he says about it –

“I started the ‘Waiting’ series in 2000. I was working in Emeryville and living in San Fran, so I was commuting via bart. I became really interested in how people looked in the morning especially on Monday after the weekend. I noticed how everyone seemed to be somewhere else, not at all in the present. I also started noticing a disconnect. The bart would be packed shoulder to shoulder but there would be no communication and minimal eye contact.”

In his latest series and in this one on particular, the composition is minimal, the environment seems to fade away. The artist is trying here to give some emphasize on the guy waiting, to hopefully make him come across as something more than a waiting guy

The minimum composition in Amory’s works certainly makes you focus on the character, on the commuter. Look at it 3 feet away from the wall and it is difficult to fully realise what is going on, get closer and find out loads of details you just missed earlier, see the commuter differently. Amory’s works appear like some sort of mirages or hazed slices of personal stories, stories of these people in the morning waiting for their mean of transport, our story for most of us.

The show runs until Saturday 12th February 2010

Related links
> Brett Amory’s website
> The Outsiders

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