Bio

Brendan John Carroll earned a Bachelor’s degree at Providence College, where he studied psychology and art. After graduation, he moved to New York City to develop as a painter while also working at Columbia University’s Division of Neuroscience. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Arts in 2011. Carroll’s paintings have been shown in galleries in Baltimore, Boston, Connecticut, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Milwaukee, California and Sweden. His art is included in the permanent collection of the High Museum of Art and Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. Writing is also a constant part of his studio practice. Carroll has written catalogue essays for artists such as Shara Hughes and Austin Eddy, as well as contributing to publications such as Salon.com, Painters on Painting, and Burnaway.

Carroll lives and works in Guilford, Connecticut and Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Artist Statement

Using oil paint, resin and wax, my paintings appear as vibrant translucent windows covered and collaged with abstract brushwork. They portray the physical interface between myth and reality, sentimentality and pragmatism, culture and the individual.

The largest aesthetic influences in my life have come from stained glass windows and modernist painting. I grew up going to church every Sunday morning.  I remember an overwhelming sense of boredom that was only sometimes relieved by looking at the pictures illustrated on the stained-glass windows and fresco walls.  Similarly, I remember drudging through museums filled with portraits and pottery shards just to be thrilled by the abstract expressionists in the modernist wing. In both instances, I was awe-struck by the depiction of color, gesture, materials and existential/spiritual drama.

As I have grown older, I find myself returning to these fascinations with a sense of ambivalence. I might want faith in a great destiny, and I may want to feel pride in the histories and traditions of my ancestors or the communities that raised me. And yet, I am suspicious of myths and heroes. And I strive to describe my earnest feeling of uncertainty.