Brandy Gale solo exhibition Mermaids in the Basement, June-July 2019 at The Loft, Santa Cruz. 

Opening Reception Friday, June 7, 5:30-8:30pm.

Show has been EXTENDED! and now runs to July 31, 2019. 

 

Artist's Statement:

 

 

This new series continues my focus on the marine intertidal zone as part of my ongoing quest to convey connectedness to nature as a cure for loneliness and existential angst. 

 

I wade, free dive and swim through these areas to gather my inspiration. Initial sketches, small/medium paintings, and journal notes are made at the shore. Larger works are made at my lodging and shipped home, or completed later back in my studio.

 

Time spent observing the vibrance and life in tide pools is to me a sort of geographical cure. Evolved survivors of a tough climate, these tide pool creatures and plants exhibit a precious balance of life and death as the tide ebbs and flows.

 

My subjects include sea star arrays, kelp forests, sea anemones, coral reefs, shells, sponges, seahorses, jellyfish, insects, lichens, chitons, fish, octopods, and so on. 

 

I look at: The LIGHT. Night, day, end of day, long shadows on and under water, nocturnal glow/luminescence, the WEATHER, rain, sun, reflections, wind, water flow, moon phases that control the tides, SALT, etc. Colors. Textures. Movement. Stillness. Ecosystems.

 

Recording my synesthetic reactions to all of the above over time results in the work you see here. A long period of extended artistic process is involved in creating them. These paintings incorporate as many as 100 overlapping layers of oil paint and cold beeswax. 

 

 

I am still working in mostly abstract mode as my TBI (double concussion) continues to heal.

 

About the title: "Mermaids in the Basement" is a reference to one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems. Her phrases manifest some of my own experiences when creating beside and in the sea; the sensual undertones especially speak to me. And the dog, of course. Oddly, Dickinson never actually visited the seaside. I hope my renderings and impressions do her perspicacious words an equal compliment.

 

-Brandy Gale 2019

 

 

I started Early – Took my Dog

 

I started Early – Took my Dog –

And visited the Sea –

The Mermaids in the Basement

Came out to look at me –

 

And Frigates – in the Upper Floor

Extended Hempen Hands –

Presuming Me to be a Mouse –

Aground – opon the Sands –

 

But no Man moved Me – till the Tide

Went past my simple Shoe –

And past my Apron – and my Belt

And past my Boddice – too –

 

And made as He would eat me up –

As wholly as a Dew

Opon a Dandelion's Sleeve –

And then – I started – too –

 

And He – He followed – close behind –

I felt His Silver Heel

Opon my Ancle – Then My Shoes

Would overflow with Pearl –

 

Until We met the Solid Town –

No One He seemed to know –

And bowing – with a Mighty look –

At me – The Sea withdrew

 

-Emily Dickinson