Artist Statement | Bran Palmer

My work explores what it means to examine the anatomy of play as a creative survival game. When we lose sight of our own reflections in the mirror, we become the inner workings of our own consciousness. We feel our way through the gallery of human emotions, from fear to compassion, love to suffering.

We can physically see only what’s on the surface, reflecting back at us in tangled wavelengths of light, a cocktail of colors mixed by our own brains. On the best days, we get to navigate through exploration, forging meandering paths and bridging new connections,

The shape of the invisible underneath is revealed in forms bubbling up under the thin and thick layers of paint, slick and sanded metallic surfaces, and soft drapes of skin-like fabric. Working with spray atomizers and sponges, I move acrylic and oil paints over organza fabric and aluminum panels, alternating opacity with translucency, placing colors together that complement and sizzle, red with green, orange with blue, purple with yellow.

I articulate the idea of play as arcs of energy bridging through space, bursting, connecting and present where they are concealed, or as shadows playing in the sunlight or flagellum swimming under the microscope. Always and everywhere are these strange and beautiful forms of light and color that we rarely see that construct us, creating the experience of being human.

I present my body of work to tell the story of the underlooked action taking place beneath this mirrored surface, the anatomy of play.