FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2024
VIBE // SHIFT: Paintings and drawings by Saxon Brice at In The Meantime in Los Angeles
A solo exhibition of romantic portraiture in the 21st century
Jessi, 2024, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
Los Angeles, CA – Artist Saxon Brice presents a new series of portraits in his new solo exhibition VIBE // SHIFT at In The Meantime, on view through October 10th, with an opening reception on October 3rd from 6-10 PM. The event will feature dystopic recitations by poet laureate Alaska Lynch, live music blending medieval laments with turn-of-the-century post-punk, and a live duel presented by the Silverlake Fencing Club. There will be food sponsored by Melody’s and wine pop-ups.
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” – Antonio Gramsci, quoted in Sean Monahan’s 2021 Substack article “Vibe Shift”
The paintings in VIBE // SHIFT don’t necessarily represent the kind of vibe shift described by Sean Monahan in his 2021 Substack article, but rather a response to an age where trends move the world faster than painting can catch up. Working in the slow, precise style of traditional Renaissance portraiture, Brice immortalizes the characters bearing witness to the vibe shifts.
Simultaneously archetypal and idiosyncratic, Brice’s subjects, as well as their costumes, backdrops, and poses, are carefully chosen to form a narrative within each painting. His process combines live sittings, photo references, and references from classical paintings that inform each work’s color, content, and brush marks. These historical allusions respond to the death of capital-B Beauty by adopting its formal techniques in a way that ironically feels new and unfamiliar when applied to the contemporary moment.
The comparison Brice’s work makes between the past and the present of painting, or between classical Beauty and current beauty ideals, is more romantic than nostalgic. Nostalgia often resents, or ignores, the present, whereas Brice’s works nod to art history without abandoning the faces, names and accessories that make up our modern visual identities. Brice paints his contemporaries onto the same plane as the past, calling into question our cultural tendencies towards self-loathing of the modern, and worship of the classic (dead) greats. In a time when classical painting can feel insurmountably distant from the current art world, Brice’s portraits aim to level the playing field by representing timelessness amongst the trends.
“Our song, soon Lost to history,
Already rings in artificial ears” – Saxon Brice, from Keepers of the Timber
Exhibition Info
Opening Reception: RSVP HERE
On view October 3-10
In The Meantime
512 N. Hoover St
Los Angeles, CA 90026
About Saxon Brice
Saxon Brice is a Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary artist working in oil painting, traditional draftsmanship, and digital media.
Brice received his BFA from Parsons School of Design in 2010, and later studied classical techniques at the Florence Academy of Art from 2021 to 2022. He has assisted major artists including Doug Aitken, Jesper Just, Duke Riley, and Alex Israel, and has created original artwork for musical artists ranging from Katy Perry to Florence + The Machine. Brice has produced large bodies of work for film and TV, most notably the haunted paintings of Dan Gilroy’s 2019 horror/satire, Velvet Buzzsaw, for Netflix. Brice’s work has been included in exhibitions at Block Gallery, Art Division Gallery, and John Natsoulas Gallery, all in California. His artwork is in the collections of the James A. Kidd Foundation.
Website: https://saxonbrice.com/
Instagram: @saxisfaction