Osburn’s abstractions navigate between layers of gestural biomorphic marks and clearly delineated forms. Associative, yet intentionally vague, they can evoke an array of folkloristic textures, ranging from Far Eastern to Latin American. Caspar David Friedrich’s romantic landscapes, Surrealism, as well as works of the 1950s, such as Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture “One and Others” (1955) that sparked the exhibition title, have impacted Osburn’s vocabulary and shaped his aesthetic. The latter is further filtered through a keen interest in how the inescapable visual density provided by contemporary mass media can continuously lure and repulse us. Striving for balance and harmony, Osburn’s images manifest as labyrinthian landscapes that seem to embrace the mysterious unknown. By looking for guidance in the unconscious, instinct, and improvisation, he follows the tradition of various 20th Century avant-garde movements. Deeply personal without being illustrative, Osburn’s works translate as complex mosaics of his thoughts and moods; their overall tone ranging from restrained to aggressive, from melancholy to humorous:

“I like the space that exists in between abstraction and representation. What we can observe and how we feel when looking beneath the surface or through mere reflections. This is the terrain of the mysterious and the unexpected, and the place I set out to explore. It is a place that can express a sense of beauty and harmony. In this context, color is very intuitive. I don’t have a strict color system although it is important to me that all colors in the composition belong to the same “key”, or temperament. My process aims to fuse both natural impulses, to create and to destroy, or rather, to drain and to replenish, into one entity.”

Born in 1974, Bryan Osburn lives and works in Brooklyn and Queens. He received his MFA in painting from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, where he studied on full scholarship. He has exhibited in the United States and in Germany. This will be Bryan Osburn’s first solo show with the gallery.