MARK BRANDVIK

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Sam Morris

Artist and UNLV adjunct professor Mark Brandvik relaxes at home.

Medium: Primarily enamels on panel

Age: 38

Education: Bachelor’s from UNLV, master’s from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Day job: Adjunct art professor, UNLV

His work: “My paintings are portraits of places that are inspired by specific architectural sensibilities, narratives or themes. My goal is to imbue them with a kind of reverential quality expressed in an idealized, reductive form, often isolated in an ambiguous landscape. The paintings can take the look of memory-inspired architectural renderings and postcards, or, as in the work at my most recent Dust Gallery show, possess an ominous feel seen in the grayscale depictions of places where famous people have died. ‘Concha’ and ‘Tupac Shakur’ are examples from the larger body of work. My new work seems at first to be a vast departure from earlier works that dealt with religious/art historical themes wherein characters are reimagined using processed food iconography and other pop imagery. However, many material and technical elements remain the same. The Morton Salt girl as ‘Lot’s Wife’ and the Sun Maid Raisin girl as Mother Mary holding wine grapes in ‘Pieta’ are a few examples, inspired by early memories of my childhood upbringing in the Lutheran Church.”

Hobbies/interests: House restorations, “landlording” and “processing every aspect of my existence”

Studio space: A separate building behind his house

Why Vegas: Born and raised in Las Vegas; returned here after graduate school

Vegas influence? “It’s part of my DNA, so whatever artwork I make is going to be an expression of where I come from and where I live. Everyone who’s lived here knows that the paradox and odd juxtapositions in this town affect us more indirectly than directly.”

Sticking around? “Another lifetime or two.”