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 I currently reside in Seattle with my daughter Kali. My time is spent drawing, painting, creating sounds in a band Black Noise Cannon, experiencing nature and traveling as often as possible. I've been doing visual art since I can remember, influenced by the Surrealists and the discovery of Entheogens at a young age. More recently finding an affiliation with the ongoing and ever burgeoning Fantastic/Visionary art movement, through this I have been making connections and expanding my horizons.
 Since I was a child I have always been fascinated by the fantastic, surreal, the strange and the weird, and also have been drawn to the shadow side of expressing myself. In my work I have a tendency to visualize death and darkness, sometimes obvious, other times more subtle. I feel I try to capture the duality of this existence, the paradox of love and hate, light and dark. I feel with some of my darker work I am drawing and painting the beauty of a lamentation. For me this includes the mourning but without the regret: that sorrow, sadness, suffering and tears should be embraced as a part of a beautiful human experience and not be wholly shunned. This process in creating my art is transformative, and reflects an evolution towards something within and yet beyond myself. I think through my art I am trying to communicate my experience to others, and I have some kind of need to express this "beauty in lamentation."
 As for any absolute meaning in my work I think the power of visual art is that it's open to the individual's interpretation. Question what you see, consider what you don't, draw your own conclusions.
~ BKWard 2008
www.myspace.com/bryankentward
 2007 – Iquitos, Peru. June 8-18th: Participated in a Shamanic healing retreat in the Amazon utilizing the ethnogenic plant “Ayahuasca.” I facilitated the creative expression aspect of the seminar, working with about 10 students, teaching various techniques to help capture visions experienced.
2003 – Manuas, Brazil. January 21-31: I facilitated the creative expression aspect of the second seminar, working with about 15 students.
2003 – Manuas, Brazil. January 9-18: Participated in a Shamanic healing retreat in the Amazon utilizing the ethnogenic plant “Ayahuasca” with Visionary artists Robert Venosa and Martina Hoffman. We worked with watercolors and colored pencils to capture creative expressions from our visionary experiences.
2002 – Seattle, WA: April 28: Participated in a weekend seminar with Visionary artist Alex Grey, doing color pencil drawings inspired by the “Chakras” working from the nude figure.
2001-2002 – Seattle, WA: Attended Seattle Central Community College, taking printmaking/etching and 3D animation classes.
 2000 – Zurich, Switzerland. August: I had the pleasure of meeting H.R. Giger at his home. We talked art and he gave me an invaluable critique of some of the work I had with me.
2000 – Monaco (France). July: Studied with the renowned artist and original co-founder of the School of Fantastic Realism, Prof. Ernst Fuchs at his home, furthering my study of the Misch, and getting hands on lessons from the master himself. We set up our canvas in his studio painting next to him for hours on end, with him showing us how he works with pigments, rabbit-skin gesso and other valuable techniques.
2000 – Payerbach, Austria. June-July: Participated in a month long painting seminar studying the Misch Technique with Prof. Phil Jacobson, and Michael Fuchs.
1990-1994 – Seattle, WA: Attended the School of Visual of Concepts, a non-credited fine arts school, taking numerous figure/life drawing classes, pastel, watercolor and beginning thru advanced oil painting classes.
1989 – Seattle, WA: Attended three quarters at the Art Institute of Seattle, before splitting over policy and teaching practices by the institute.
“If I had not translated emotions
into images,
I might have been destroyed by the contents
of the unconscious.” ~ C.G. Jung
When thinking of writing a statement
about my art, I couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward trying to describe
the genesis of what I create, talking about creating art
is more difficult than doing it. I think inspiration for
imagination comes from each aspect of personal experiences.
I’ve always had influences, like the Symbolists,
Surrealism, Fantastic Realism, and the Expressionist, anything
that has an otherworldly vision to it has inspired me,
but I have never really fit into a particular category.
Since I can remember I have been attracted to the shadow
side of art and always related to the suffering expressed
in art. One of my major influences was when I was 14 years
old and borrowed a Dali book from my art teacher. My world
was forever changed, the realistic paintings of twisted
flesh on barren planes made such a lasting impression on
me that I knew this was what I wanted to do. To show people
a glimpse of my world and to express this darker side of
me.
Subject matter in my art consists of people interacting
with beasts or transforming into other beings. Sometimes
the people are twisted with emotion or lost in a desperate
landscape, tormented by inner demons. To me when I say
demon I think of the metaphor that is symbolic for fear
of the unknown or for something we have no control over.
From my experiences, when we come face to face with our
fears they don’t seem as horrible as we have imagined them to be.
If the Angel of Death is descending upon me it seems terrifying, but once it
reaches me it could be bliss. So these demons, either emotional or physical,
can also be seen as sublime. Visions are a form of energy, a manifestation
of something that can become a reality, these fears and visions are not tangible,
but can affect a person as if they were real, and they can also affect others
if the believer acts upon them. I can see why many people are turned off by
art that is filled with disturbing images. It’s like if they stare at
the image too long, it might rub off on them and they might become infected
with darkness and insanity. Through my art I try to move through this darkness
and find transcendence. I don’t want to dwell in my own fears but instead
want to face them and hopefully exorcise demons that I couldn’t come
to terms with in any other way.
My connection with nature and the elements has been a strong influence on my
use of organic subjects in my art. Growing up in Seattle I was blessed with
two rugged mountain ranges, lakes, rivers and plenty of rain. With the most
beautiful coastline and rainforests I’ve have ever seen. Nature has had
a profound affect on my life and art, and when I’m away from it I yearn
for the green and the gray. I think nature’s influence shows itself in
the roots of my work, connecting everything together organically in some way
or another. Many times in nature I have used entheogens for exploring inner
worlds. I experimented with entheogens first when I was in my mid teens, using
them to questioning everything around me and trying to understand where I fit
into this world. I was always trying to push myself further than I thought
I could go, pushing my body and my mind. From these experiences I opened up
to ideas that up to that point in my life I had never thought or heard of.
It was an “awakening”. But it wasn’t all blissful meditation.
I had some really intensely negative trips, most coming upon more recreational
use of plants or drugs and I had forgotten to respect their power. But I follow
my breaking out of normally acceptable subject matter in art being directly
related to entheogens. These experiences have become a major influence on some
of my more fantastic visions in my work. Dreams have also had an important
influence on my creative process. I’ve never tried to adapt a whole dream,
but I have incorporated many different aspects of my dreams as ideas for my
work. Dreams as a direct door to our subconscious can give rise to many surreal
images and I try to take advantage of them as often as possible. I have many
good dreams, but usually the more uncomfortable the dream the more interesting
the subject and the more of a challenge it is to actualize visually. For me,
I’m not concerned with interpreting dreams. I’m driven by the mystery
in them, the mystery that is in not knowing.
Other arts have influenced my work.
I am an avid reader, so historical non-fiction and fantastic fiction has
influenced me greatly, especially writing that is visually
inspiring. Music also has had a major influence on my art,
I couldn’t
imagine life without it. I have played in a couple of different bands in
the last few years. Expressing myself in this form has
as much of an affect on me as creating my visual art, the
major difference being that with music and a band you are
creating work collectively, adding a whole other aspect
to the process of expressing ideas. For example if you
work on a group drawing together, the different styles
and personalities accentuate each other and create something
that none of the individuals could have created alone. There are a few works
in either music and writing that have enough of a drive and passion to really
inspire me to push myself in my own work. Another very important catalyst
for my work is people. There are certain individuals who’s
work alone have inspired me to be an artist, or others
who’s words of inspiration have
pushed me to move forward with my vision. Then there are those individuals
who are so full of fire, life and beauty that they inspire me just by being
alive. Each individual has a presence of their own, which in turn influences
my work. I feel that a person has to pass through the inferno of their passions
and fears to find their own bliss. Ultimately, we should embrace our passions
and not hide from them.
Western society has been going through a
period in the traditional arts that is filling us with
both the safe and mediocre. At the same time we are being
bombarded with disturbing images via digital information
and the media. It is an interesting time to be involved
in any type of visual medium. How and who controls information
in society is ultimately what affects imagination. The
lines between art and advertising have been blurred to
the point of absurdity. I think our “society of the
spectacle” has resulted in a collective
amnesia so we have forgotten about myth. Humans have always lived by their
myths. Myth as a way to connect us to nature and to history. Right now
the world seems to be an aberration. Most people I know
are in an open rebellion of some kind or another against
an inhumane, dehumanizing and banal form of life that “progress” has
created. The social and psychological implications of such
an existence have influenced my art. I try to work through
what I don’t understand in society. If I didn’t have catharsis
I probably would have exploded with an ugly rage, instead of a beautiful
rage.
At the genesis of a blank sheet of paper,
canvas or board, I approach each piece uniquely. Sometimes
I jump right into a painting without previous sketches.
Other times I work out a basic composition using photographs
I’ve taken
of models and scenery. I also use found images from magazines as an influence
for subjects. I have a large collection of image references for getting
ideas. I usually have a general idea of the subject matter that I pull
from. I’ve
always been blessed with a creative imagination and have never found
myself lacking in subject matter. My main problem has been slowing down
the stream of images that flow through my conscious mind enough to decide
on which images to use for what piece. It’s interesting about these
stream of images, I think they go back to the beginning of humans, to
our essence. A myth or archetype that makes up who and what we are, each
stream of moving images comes from within us and is collective but remains
very individual to our personal experiences.
I very rarely start a piece
knowing where it will go. I start with a “focusless
focus”, gradually pulling out what I see. I love to use spontaneity
and chaos in my art. Finding images within images, or evolving the
subject matter and composition as I work on it. I very rarely know
what a piece means when I’m creating it, even if I’ve pre-destined
the basic theme. I usually don’t understand any of it until much
later. I see many pieces as visual diaries of where I was at, both
physically and psychologically at the time. Some of my work I’ve
yet to understand and I don’t really want
to. I think every artist knows they have an audience at some point.
In knowing that, they want to make sure the image works in one way
or another, whether it’s by conveying an actual message or just
a feeling. Yet I don’t
feel I should answer people’s questions about what my art means.
Inevitably each image is going to invoke or provoke an individual response
or interpretation. That is the beauty of creativity.
At times I’ve
found myself in a tumultuous state, completely emotionally distraught
by what I’m working on. Other times I’ve worked for
hours in a kind of “altered state”, loosing all concept
of time and understanding as to how I accomplished my work. When
I am in these states, purging honest emotions without concern for
moral taboos, is when I feel I can express myself best in my purest
form. This is my spirituality in my art, just me using my whole being,
my will to expurgate my imagination. I would like to think that at
some point my art could mean as much to someone as others work has
meant to me. Something which will inspire one to look inward, to
take risks in their life. To share whom they really are with others.
I believe that imagination is the key to personal freedom and something
integral to the essence of being human.
With this website I will update
my newest works as often as possible, although I also will over
time add older images that somehow relate to the progress
of my newest work. With each new piece my art will transform
slowly into more articulate images from my psyche. I will
always try some new approaches which for me will be sometimes
subtle risks, sometimes more extreme. I know that I have
much that I need to learn and many places I need to explore,
and I feel I don't want to limit myself to what is expected
from me. As with all art you either progress or you decay. I feel
like I’m progressing, and I look
forward to having an opportunity to share my visions with others.
-Bryan Kent Ward
2003-2005
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