Today we’d like to introduce you to Brenden Sanborn.
Brenden, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Capturing the sensuality and beauty of the male figure has been a focus of my work for almost two decades. I became intrigued by the human figure in college and began my exploration of the male figure in my twenties.
Painting the male figure is more than just placing the lines or shapes; it’s a spiritual journey into expressing a much deeper realm of male sensitivity, passion, tenderness and vulnerability. The modern male to me encompasses strength, masculinity, humility and sensuality.
I focus on bringing to light the deeper side of my subjects: He’s more than just a handsome face or beautiful body. I want to take the viewer on a journey through my paintings by capturing the subtle differences in each subject’s emotions through body language: A slight tip of the head, a strong angle of the shoulders or a strong confident chest. I attempt to capture the man behind the body you see to attempt to reach into the soul and express that outwardly. To do this, I flirt with expressive color and intentionally varied line weights.
I tell a story within the story of the man on the paper or canvas through pressure of the pen or with the depth and width of the lines. These subtleties are an accumulation of the emotion that I am feeling. The line weights are also a complete reflection of the emotions that I am picking up from my subject, for they come as naturally as my thoughts. Color comes instinctively with each painting, too, therefore I vary my palette. I see the color of my subjects like I see a beautiful sunset; each painting is different and the emotion conveyed through color is completely intuitive. The painting is always an evolution of a spiritual journey to get to know the man behind the outside appearance.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
As an artist, it’s never a smooth road but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have had some good years and I’ve had some GREAT years and even if I’ve had some “bad” years, I’ve never tried to look at things that way. I believe with a little struggle comes innovation and creative thinking. I’ve had to create new revenues from licensing to open edition printmaking in order to keep the lights on.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
My artistic journey is a process which allows me to express the many levels of my life through color, texture and illusion on a two-dimensional surface. Pushing and pulling the paint and bringing it to a place of comprehensive completion is always my goal. Watercolors are my usual medium; I present what is at times an amalgamation of the athletic male physique and abstraction. The outcome and what shines through is an obsession with the process itself. My work exhibits a refined palette on a variety of subjects from the complexity and intrigue of an athletic male physique to the voyeuristic high of love lost but not forgotten. I try not to limit myself and find the joy and drive in always finding new and exciting subjects to paint.
For me, the magic of a piece of art is about capturing both the emotion behind the painting and the technique of the artist. The initial emotion I feel drives my expression. However, the way I handle the paint–my technique at expressing the emotion– is as important to me as what I paint. To me, an attractive painting has always been as much about how the artist handles the paint as the emotional expression behind the painting. Hopefully, when you look at one of my paintings you can tell I was smiling the whole time I was painting!
I specialize and am known for painting the male figure in watercolor with a loose style. I am most proud of bringing a sense of love and spirituality to a community of people that enjoy the message of color, vulnerability and love with the male figure. I feel the male figure over the years in the area of painting has become overly sexualized or given the image that it’s toxic to be masculine. I want to show that the male figure in art can be tender, loving and caring while still being a man.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see a lot changing. In the world of art, everything changes within the year. Within the world of art, it’s everchanging. We always need to adapt and evolve and become ever more creative with how we can get our work out and seen. Social media has helped tremendously with my work over the years but I see that changing as well. The floodgates have opened for anyone to share their work and that’s a wonderful thing but you have become even more innovative with your approach on how to get noticed. Trends in my field are something you HAVE to pay attention to – especially when selling online. The old school thinking if you build it they will come can no longer be used.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://shop.brendensanborn.com/
- Email: artist@brendensanborn.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/brendensanborn
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/artbybrenden/
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/brendensanborn
- Other: www.etsy.com/shop/brendensanborn
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