Todd Brugman

Art is deeply personal, autobiographical, therapeutic, and my answer for everything.

My art doesn’t illustrate something, my art is that something. My paintings embody the subject which is naturally universal and otherwise ineffable.

I believe that everything experienced, every emotion, reaction, and thought passed through sentient beings, us, humans, can be described in a universal language. This language consists of all visual elements and the infinite ways these elements can be expressed.

Understanding this universal language is a constant struggle. It is a difficult language to translate but I strive to evoke the feeling of the language via my paintings.

When a viewer "feels" something, I know the work is complete. This tells me that the work is a true embodiment of the experience, and the emotion is uniquely human.

I use geometric shapes and line-work that may appear to be very straight and/or rigid. I never force a flaw, but I don't turn back if a line gets shaky, that little shake gives my work its human element, an element that not only would I not deny my work of, but one that I welcome in its natural state. Allowing this human element to exist in my work only creates a playing field where beauty may flourish.

Geometry embodies everything in the world and allows me to distill our complex universe into digestible elements. It defines thought, emotion, and sentience. I am ever so slowly, yet never quiet, translating my experiences via paintings. Subjects which have no beginning and no end, just a visual answer, and the answer is always "beauty."