Since the 1990s, Californian artist Brian Calvin has been celebrated for bold, colorful paintings that depict subjects in close range. His practice is defined by the use of flatly rendered lines and visual planes, which are then coupled with luminous details such as eyes, lips and fingernails. His work is included in renowned collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Portland Art Museum; and the Rubell Family collection; among others.
Group Thinking portrays three female figures clustered so tightly together that—save for the differences in the vibrant palettes that Calvin selected for each—their facial features are hardly distinguishable from one another. These fictional characters, inspired by Californian youth as in other works by the artist, become exercises in marrying figuration and geometric abstraction. Entirely devoid of negative space, the non-narrative work hones in on the subjects, as though to focus the viewer's attention on elusive thoughts and interactions.
Brian Calvin
Group Thinking, 2021
21.25 x 26 inches
Archival pigment print
Limited Edition of 40 with 5AP
Signed and numbered by the artist
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