Thursday Salute to Originals: An Entanglement with Glenn

Painter re-imagines iconic portraits in distinctive winding strokes

London-based based painter Glenn Brown is re-interpreting some famous portraits in his signature style in his series And thus we existed. Made with a bold pallet and swirling, tangled brush strokes, wisps of oil acrylic effortlessly gather and intertwine to form historic figures on canvas.

Brown lifts each subject from a source image, usually digitally altered, as part of his creative process. The subjects of these images often include Renaissance figures.

While Brown’s work resembles the contemporary surrealist aesthetics of painters like Karel Appel, Frank Auerbach, Georg Baselitz, and Chris Foss, each piece is an original exploration of unsettling or unique features within the source image.

Themes of mystery, chaos, and uncertainty are boldly expressed through color and texture. Whatever the subject, the paintings instantly invoke a strong emotional response and are a puzzle to interpret.

This Thursday, we’re saluting Glenn Brown and his Light Storm photography series. You can view more of his work on Instagram and his Website.

Sources: Glenn Brown, This is Colossal