Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Brian Comber earned a BFA in Drawing and Print Making from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. In the late 1990s, he hooked up with Open Press in Denver, Colorado for print, eventually adding charcoal drawing and painting. His art has been exhibited in Denver, Colorado Springs, Santa Fe, and even as far away as Bulgaria and Tokyo.
 

In his art career, Brian Comber continues to switch between print making and painting, believing that the two inform each other. He approaches painting from a printmaker’s point of view, and vice versa. He tends to concentrate on one or the other at any given time, changing his mindset accordingly. With print making, he has to think in reverse, in terms of linear drawing, black and white. With painting, he thinks in color.
 

Brian Comber is currently involved in portraiture on large canvases (4 feet by 5 feet and larger). At first, the pieces were of imagined human figures, with color and composition lending an ethereal, dream-like quality. As the series has evolved, he’s been pulled toward reality and has used people who were close to him as models. As he creates his portraitures, Brian works from photographs, taking care to avoid a literal translation of the poses.
 

In his art, Brian stays spontaneous with the paint, using larger than expected brushes and broad strokes, which blend the different colors into a singular effect. He repeats the process several times for each piece of artwork, using more varnishes and less paint with each step. This art technique has roots in traditional painting, but Brian’s larger scale makes it more contemporary.
 

He enjoys the impact of so much color presented through the size of his canvases. To Brian, the size adds opera – a sense of music and drama – to the work. He views painting as a good way to employ his sense of color, thinking of luminosity and glow as he paints, employing techniques to emphasize that aspect of the art form. For Brian, color in painting is analogous to his line work in print making: It’s the spine of the work.
 

Brian Comber’s art includes oil on canvas, etching and print making, and works on paper. His art has been described as neo-expressionistic, and he builds on themes of mythology, history, and events of everyday life.
 

Brian Comber’s work will be on display at our gallery in January 2010 and Feburary 2010.