Ed Brandt
- Palimpsest, 2017
Artist Statement: Current Works
My work occupies a space between studio making and commercial practice. Employing a designer’s vocabulary, I seek a means of expression that expands the definitions of both. With the use of elements such as glyphs, icons, symbols, and graphic forms, I react to influences of visual communication. This imagery occupies active, visceral spaces that incorporate abstracted marks and unintended discovery. The resulting compositions acknowledge art making as an experiential and reactionary act as much as it is deliberate.
What I create is an intrinsic response that echoes both measured actions as well as emotive reactions. I trust intuition and depend on process, I embrace the present while reflecting on nostalgia, and I search for the unexpected in the ordinary. Within these relationships exists a contemplative space for inspiration. A space that allows for recognition of the systematic form of design and a desire for creative voice.View Works
Artist Statement: Earlier Works
When first observing my art, viewers are confronted with an aesthetic that is honest and uncomplicated, composed of understated color, line, gesture, and geometry. These outward characteristics recall geometric modernist paintings, direct and formal in appearance. However, upon closer inspection, layered surface qualities challenge this initial response and elicit questions of materiality, textural subtleties, and a patina that displays visible traces of development. This balance of directness and intricacy forms an explorative dialogue, one in which the viewer is engaged by the whole of the work, then is drawn in through discovery.
Employing abstracted references, my art shapes questions of time, place, and object. It is a visceral response that echoes emotive reactions that I experience when defining inspiration. It is a reflection of artifacts in the built environment and a nostalgic reference to landscapes; not in a pictorial sense, but rather in a recontextualized memory of places that I have inhabited. Within my work I balance formal concerns while seeking out the sublime in the ordinary, in objects and spaces overlooked, too mundane to be of importance.View Works
Bio
I am an educator, graphic designer, and artist living in southwest New Mexico. With over thirty years of graphic design experience, and ten as an educator, I serve as Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Western New Mexico University.
Originally from Chicago, I received a bachelor’s degree from Lewis University concentrating in both fine art and graphic design. After graduation I began a career as a designer, founding my own company five years later, serving clients from diverse industries nationwide.
Throughout this time, I maintained a studio practice, exhibiting in both group and solo exhibitions. With a passion for education, I also began teaching at The University of New Mexico, serving as adjunct professor and continuing education instructor, teaching a variety of fine art, graphic design, and technical courses.
I returned to school to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree from UNM with a focus in painting and drawing. Upon graduation, I helped found UNM Art’s graphic design concentration while serving as Professor of Practice. I continue to educate the next generation of creative thinkers at WNMU, where I have developed the Department of Expressive Arts’ graphic design program.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
- 2017Master of Fine Arts, Painting and Drawing, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 1994Bachelor of Arts, Concentration in Fine Art and Design, Lewis University, Romeoville, IL
Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
- 2024Present Space, Southeastern Community College, Burlington, IA
- 2019Temporal Arrangement, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
- 2017Palimpsest, CFA Downtown Studio, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 2014Selected Works, Winning Coffee Co., Albuquerque, NM
- 2009Duality, KiMo Theatre Art Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
- 2006Recent Works, Frutchey Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Selected Exhibitions
- 2023WNMU Faculty Biennial Exhibition, Francis McCray Gallery, Silver City, NM
- 2021WNMU Faculty Biennial Exhibition, Francis McCray Gallery, Silver City, NM
- 2017Journey: Here and Onward, Norbertine Community of Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey, Albuquerque, NM*
- 2017Fall Group Show, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
- 2017Salon des Refusés, Masley Art Gallery, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 2016Verge: Shaping the Photograph, John Sommers Gallery, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 2016Excavated, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM
- 2016ARTE Juried Exhibit, Masley Art Gallery, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM*
- 2015Connectivity: The 21st Annual Juried Graduate Exhibition, Clinton Adams Gallery, UNM Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM*
- 2014At First Sight, SCA Contemporary Art, Albuquerque, NM
- 2013President’s 5th Annual Art Show, Lewis University, Romeoville, IL
- 2011The Rail Yard Exhibit, KiMo Theatre Art Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
- 2008The Eyes Have It Group Show, South Broadway Cultural Center, Albuquerque, NM
- 2007Recent Works Showing, The Johnson’s of Madrid Galleries of Fine and Fiber Art, Madrid, NM
- 2007The Eyes Have It Group Show, EXPO New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 2006The Eyes Have It Group Show, EXPO New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 2006The Eyes Have It Group Show, Arts Alliance Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
- *Juried Exhibitions
Professional Experience
- 2020-PresentAssistant Professor, Graphic Design, Department of Expressive Arts, Western New Mexico University, Silver City, NM
- 2018-2020Professor of Practice, Graphic Design, Department of Art, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 2018Adjunct Lecturer, Creative Design Thinking, Department of Cinematic Arts, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 2014–2017Graduate Teaching Assistant, Painting and Drawing (Instructor of Record), The University of New Mexico, Department of Art and Art History, Albuquerque, NM
- 2012–PresentIndependent Graphic Designer and Consultant, Silver City, NM
- 2011–2017Instructor, Digital Arts, The University of New Mexico Continuing Education, Albuquerque, NM
- 1999–2012Owner, Square15 Inc., Albuquerque, NM
- 1997–1998Adjunct Professor, Painting, Department of Art and Design, Lewis University, Romeoville, IL
- 1994–1999Art Department Co-Manager, Graphic Designer, IT Manager, The Forms Group, Itasca, IL
University Services
- 2020-PresentCommittee Member, Various, Western New Mexico University, Silver City, NM
- 2019-2020Faculty advisor, Graduate Art Association, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- 2018–2019Committee member, graphic design, Art90, University of New Mexico Art Department’s 90th Anniversary event, design and promotion
- 2015–2016Vice President, Volunteer, Graduate Art Association, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Professional Services
- 2021Creatures of the Gila, Grant County Art Guild, Silver City, NM
Presentations
- 2015M2 Meeting of the Minds, Presentation and Discussion, UNM Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Commissions
- 1997Health Care At Home, Hinsdale, IL. Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches
Collections
- Southeastern Community College, IA
- The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
- Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
- Lewis University, Romeoville, IL
Bibliography
- Jennifer Olson. Westerner. Meet Ed brandt, Q&A. 2022.
- Nancy Zastudil. Open Operation. Forward, Palimpsest Graduate Exhibition Catalogue. 2017.
- Kelly Koepke. Art Buzz. Local Flavor Magazine, localflavormagazine.com. May 2, 2016.
- James K. Ballinger. Connectivity. Forward, The 21st Annual Juried Graduate Exhibition Catalogue. 2015.
- David Blanchet. Logopond: Identity Inspiration (Vol. 1, Page 109). Logopond Publishing. 2012.
Contact
Thank you for your interest. For more information, email: