Misc. | Brie Castell

The major theme throughout all of my work deals with the deeply personal aspects of my life. The approach I take when creating art always begins and ends with emotion. For much of my work, I find myself in a constant need to explore the complex relationship between self-portraiture, time, and memory. In other portraits, my aim is to address my connection to the male gender, moving beyond a portrayal of a basic physical representation to create a document of the “unseen.”

For all of my work, post-visualization is critical. Making the negative is the first step of many, and gives me a solid ground on which to build. Allowing the negative to speak to me as if it were an introduction to a story, I then employ other tools and materials such as toners, dyes, chemical stains, old books and their pages, charcoals and paints, and needle and thread to communicate the middle and the end of the tale. The results are portraits which reveal a story of my sitter, our relationship, and ultimately of my Self.

_1 The major theme throughout all of my work deals with the deeply personal aspects of my life. The approach I take when creating art always begins and ends with emotion. For much of my work, I find myself in a constant need to explore the complex relationship between self-portraiture, time, and memory. In other portraits, my aim is to address my connection to the male gender, moving beyond a portrayal of a basic physical representation to create a document of the “unseen.” For all of my work, post-visualization is critical. Making the negative is the first step of many, and gives me a solid ground on which to build. Allowing the negative to speak to me as if it were an introduction to a story, I then employ other tools and materials such as toners, dyes, chemical stains, old books and their pages, charcoals and paints, and needle and thread to communicate the middle and the end of the tale. The results are portraits which reveal a story of my sitter, our relationship, and ultimately of my Self.