Brandy Antonio (b.1982) is an artist and educator from New York specializing in drawing, painting and collage incorporating influences from her time spent living in Tokyo and Germany. Bold brushstrokes, gestural marks and color characterize her work with a focus on themes of identity, human development, and spiritual enrichment. She earned a BFA in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology and an MA in Art Education from New York University. She is the co-founder of Legacy Foundation Japan, an organization est. in 2020 to encourage and inform cross cultural relationships between the Japanese and African American community. She designed her own curriculum and founded The Paper Mosaic Portrait Project (2023), a community-based project exploring identity and portraiture through paper mosaics. Brandy has exhibited in the US as well as internationally continuously expanding on ideas upon play and process-based art. 

Statement

Abstract paintings attempt to expose the unknown and unseen realm of my personal experience. Through impulsive gesture and intuitive mark-making, I find balance in the chaos and form through feeling. Gestural marks with oil sticks, found objects and sudden splashes across the canvas provide a tactile quality that emphasize the collision of abstraction and representation. Flirtations of recognizable images emerge from scribbles and bold brushstrokes. By working large-scale, I am able to commit my body to the work with conviction. Every mark is a timeline. Every splatter is a story. In this way, the work becomes a living document of my spirit.

The work is cyclical—capturing glimpses of birth, growth, and death. From the seminal seed of human life to the stained-then-sterilized quality of new beginnings, my goal is to magnify the overlooked and minimize the monumental. Immediacy is essential, like the uninhibited speech of a curious child.   

My artistic inclinations serve as a visual gospel; guiding me through life with God and lighting my path in liberation.