Kevin Brisco

Artist’s Statement

As an artist I am interested in the simple and at times contrived aspects of sociopolitical life, namely the ways we interact with labor, gender, and race.

‘Build’ is an exploration into masculinity and home construction. The work takes stylistic cues from the paintings of Kehinde Wiley, and is largely informed by Jacob Lawrence’s ‘Builder’s’ series, in which construction is seen as a metaphor for abstract progress.

Athletic young men are sensuously painted over large built surfaces. Associations of prosperity, security, and labor resonate from the imagery and shape an idealized masculinity. It is unclear whether these associations derive from a fundamental male essence or if they are constructions in and of themselves, cultivated through a gender “performance.” In the end the figures home-like constructions serve no real function besides supporting the image of man as “builder.”

Kevin Brisco was born and raised in Memphis, TN. He has earned his B.A. in Painting from Wesleyan University and is currently working towards his M.F.A. at Tulane University. He primarily works in drawing and painting but maintains interests in sculpture and photography. See more at kevinbrisco.com.
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About Posit Editor

Susan Lewis (susanlewis.net) is the Editor-in-chief and founder of Posit (positjournal.com) and the author of ten books and chapbooks, including Zoom (winner of the Washington Prize), Heisenberg's Salon, This Visit, and State of the Union. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies such as Walkers in the City (Rain Taxi), They Said (Black Lawrence Press), and Resist Much, Obey Little (Dispatches/Spuyten Duyvil), as well as in journals such as Agni, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Conjunctions online, Diode, Interim, New American Writing, and VOLT.