About the Artist
Brik Cross is a young artist from West Virginia. He has had a passion for art from a very young age and has always dreamed of becoming an artist. He predominantly works with charcoal and oil paint, while occasionally working with different media. His current work is exploring the expression of emotion through figure, animal subject matter, and bold color. In the past his work has explored themes of identity, self expression, love, and hate. Hopefully working towards a distinct and meaningful depiction of life and emotion as an overarching meaning.
Artist Statement
The complexity of human emotions has always been one of the most difficult things for me to process throughout my life. Emotions of other people were foreign to me, and the emotions of myself continue to surpass my understanding. Through the creation of my art I am learning how to understand the subtle yet immense emotions of man. In my work there is a common theme of human and animal figures interacting in different ways in their space. The animals are included as a physical embodiment of emotion. To me, this is a way to show how a person is feeling versus how they might be able, or unable, to describe said feeling. The animals are also shown as a reminder that we as humans are animals and the things that bind us are the emotions we feel. The submission of a dog, the fear of a hare- it is something that all beings feel and it binds us together as living creatures.
While I work with mixed media I hold a fondness for charcoal and oil paint. The range of textures that I can show through the combination of these two materials is very interesting and unpredictable. The quick shifting from harsh and primal textures to smooth paint creates a tension that pushes the tension I try to capture between subjects.
As I am creating my work, I do not like to hold it to any specific level of completion. I start pieces without having a finished idea and allowing it to grow and change into something unrecognizable from where it began. My work grows and morphs into something raw, emotional and alive, I allow these changes to come naturally and without limitation. Through a piece's progression it goes through stages, much like how I have continued to grow as a person and an artist.