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Biography
Richard Brandon Pruett will graduate in spring of 2006 with BFA degrees both
in Painting and Art Education. Following graduation, he will begin a career
as a high school art teacher. He is a Presidential Scholar and the recipient
of the Mary Rosenblatt Scholarship for art education. During his educational
experience at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, Richard has become increasingly
interested in studying African-American vernacular art of the south. He hopes
to use this knowledge to teach students to become more resourceful and more
aesthetically aware of their environment. He believes that this will better
them as individuals and enable them, in turn, to have a positive effect in their
community.
Artist Statement
My art production starts with an aesthetic appreciation of an experience in
my environment. I am often inspired by a simple quality, movement, or object
that I encounter in by daily routine, like the milk pallets in the cooler where
I work. I examine the nicks and cracks of the pallet, which is layered in various
shades and colors. Questions begin to fill my mind about the relationship between
me and the milk pallet and about what effect this pallet would have if it was
painted upon or transformed into an art object.
My work is created in the meeting place where I confront uncertainty, fears,
beliefs, and fascinations. Doubt becomes an inseparable part of my process,
and I use it as fuel for my work. It is here that my paintings develop unfamiliar
and mysterious forms.
Discarded and forgotten objects have become a significant part of my work. To
me, they hold a wonderful energy put there by time, the elements, and people.
I have become increasingly interested in objects from my great-grandfather’s
junk houses. I give new life to the object, creating works that are both metaphorical
and personally significant.
When creating my work, I let the material grow organically and evolve, relying
on intuition to guide me in hopes that it leads to something transcendent. I
am becoming more sensitive to my environment, and I have begun to trust my eyes
less and my intuition more. My paintings are about reacting, struggling, and
searching as an artist and as a human being. They are about life and the minute
details which are often overlooked, but which I find immensely beautiful.