New Artist: Bri Custer

"Human memory is unreliable," Bri says when discussing her work. "Our brains can create false or skewed memories, and even block them out altogether in instances of trauma or extreme stress. As someone who has experienced this phenomenon, I have a deep curiosity about the way my brain serves and hinders me, both in life and in painting. 

"My practice is rooted in plein air landscape painting, but even when painting directly from life, I consider it painting from memory. In the few seconds my eyes move from looking at the landscape to the canvas, my brain has taken the light reflected by the world, and translated it to electrical impulses, and formed an imperfect short-term memory of that subject. Some artists use measurements and tools to close the gap between memory and reality, but I’m more interested in exploiting it. I use the lapses that occur between observing my subject and marking my canvas as opportunities to invent color and space. I relish the opportunity to lay down a wildly bold pink or exaggerate a slant of light to the point of distortion. By the time a painting is finished, it is more a representation of feeling a landscape than it is a record of seeing one."

"Bri's paintings take something familiar - green trees, a cloudy sky over a lake, a boulder on a sandy shore - and help the viewer to see it in a new light," Sorelle owner, Sandy Pelletier says. "Her work is an exploration in subtle exaggeration. Her thick layers of paint, unexpected contrasting colors, and abstracted planes of varying surfaces all culminate with the creation of energetic forms and a scene we recognize. I am thrilled that Bri's work is now part of the collection at Sorelle, as a stunning addition that offers both landscape and abstract art lovers something to love simultaneously."

You can see all of Bri's collection of original paintings and prints on her Artist Page.