Brian’s focus in the visual arts is the fusion of Zen and modern culture as it transforms consciousness. Brian works in multiple mediums including, watercolor, acrylics, ceramics, and photography. Born in Hollywood California, Brian began painting and drawing as a child growing up in Santa Fe Springs. As a teenager he was influenced by the multiple sub cultures of the Los Angeles basin including Zen. After Brian received his Masters Degree, he was the artist in residence at Coyote School of Fine Arts in Bishop, California. In Sonoma, Brian was a member of the Art Farm a former Chinchilla ranch, a collective of artists and crafts people in the Sonoma Valley. Brian’s current studio is his converted garage in downtown Santa Rosa, where he shares a home with his family. Brian’s studio has an unobstructed view of Mt. St. Helena and Perri’s Deli.

Brian is currently leading the Visual Arts program for Pacific Zen Institute and conducts an evening series of talks entitled “Illustrations of Zen”. (see www.pacificzen.org for details about the series) He has been working with John Tarrant on the Calligraphy Series since 2000.

To be fully alive as a human being is to participate in the arts—painting, dancing, singing and writing are all essential human activities.

My art is not about the reproduction of stuff, it’s a presentation of the matter of life itself.

The appeal of a painting is in its ability to transport us into the original place of imagination and creativity. That place before our concrete stories of are made and before our repetitive stories about a small life.

“Art is the lie that reveals the truth  . . .”

 I’ve lived on the west coast of the U.S. all my life. I grew up in the Californian urban, suburban and coastal landscapes. The California cultural landscape is blessed in it’s diversity—African, Latino, Asian, Mediterranean and Anglo cultures—all compete, collaborate and coexist. This diversity is part of my artistic palette—graffiti, fine arts, calligraphy, tattoos, hot rods, surf culture, feral parrots, the Pacific Ocean, Sonoma County vineyards and Rainbow trout.

Collaboration with John has been both a deep experience and great fun. I feel the collaboration working when there is little conversation and the studio seems large. Water, brushes, ink and paint are handed back and forth. Work is in progress on tables and the floor. John and I stand, sit and move around from piece to piece, working. The unlimited world of endless imagination just shows up and sometimes looks like two friends in shorts or jeans and flip-flops, painting away in the downtown Garage atelier.