VIVABRADY exclusive content

special backstage passes not needed...

according to BRADY, the best way to get a painting done is to hang the unfinished piece in your studio so that you have no choice but to stare at it in its incomplete state.

here, the unfinished version of what will become 2000's "the punishment" hangs next to the painting "on my mind" in BRADY's miami beach studio just days before the big move to manhattan (1999).

just out of the BRADY vaults is this very early painting from 1985 - created when the artist was only ten years old. even at that early stage, BRADY's artistic outlook was somewhat otherworldly.

many a denim short and pant has bit the dust due to BRADY's penchant for dabbing his wet brushes on his lap.

here, the artist poses in his midtown studio (2001).

for 1999's "school-boy muse" (and other paintings of its kind), BRADY evicted the accompanying pencil doddles from his college notebooks and used them to create his unusual graffiti painting collage.

heavy detail work is BRADY's most daunting, and yet most satisfying, stylistic techinique.

here, the artist poses with an unfinshed version of "honey, can we see your green thumb?" in manhattan (2000).

it is a little known fact that BRADY's 1995 painting "viva" was originally completed in arizona, looking a tad different.

eventually, the painting was "re-invented" during the artist's first few months in san francisco. the completed piece features our heroine with eyes agape and full of tears.

early forays into painting with acrylic include this newly unearthed depiction of BRADY's childhood creation "the snorts" from 1986.

in "l'autoportrait - 53 boulevard de clichy," BRADY incorporated photocopies of actual photographs that he took into the finished painting. the original images were lensed at a spring 2001 promotional window display at bloomingdale's which celebrated the release of the film "moulin rouge."

"lead us into temptation" was based on a 1998 drawing by shin iio.

here, BRADY shows off an unfinished version of his painting almost six years later.

eventually, the completed piece was selected for the 2004 compilation book, "madonna in art."

another early painting, "how delightful" (1988), previews the artist's penchant for dripping paint down the front of the canvas to add layers.

for 1995's collage piece "everlasting life," BRADY used a variety of egyptian motifs inspired by his university studies of anthropology and art history. however, it is a well kept secret that the block-printed freeze of egyptian goddesses seen in the background of the painting was achieved by using the same linocut carving that BRADY had made in his 8th grade art class well over 7 years prior.

presented at right is just one of the many individual acrylic prints that was made from the original linocut in 1988.

30 march 2002 - new york city - "the subject was art"

i'm noticing an unnerving trend with my artwork... i'm wanting to paint subjects and images that i don't think fit into my oeuvre of work due to the fact that they are not creative enough, fresh enough, or perhaps most disconcerting, not "surreal" enough... it's the ultimate case where i feel that i've lost my edge - but then when i sit right down to think about it... maybe i never had this so-called edge to begin with...

i'm the first to admit that my artwork (and my entire psyche) is constantly inspired by so many different avenues of interest. it is very probable that what inspired me when i first started painting "seriously" was more surreal, more abstract, more weird... maybe the music, movies, fashion, and such that drive me today are more banal. it is quite possible that by not being in school/ college, i am less-exposed to outlandish people, places, things, and far-out ideas. i already know for a fact that without any actual scheduled classes to be subjected to, i am without those great timeframes of complete subconscious thinking, and freehand drawing... times where the most ridiculous of images would sprout without much effort...

so the question here lies within the choice of pursuing those exact types of complete subconscious moments in which to let my artistic mind wander fervently - or - to except the fact that my style and subject can absolutely change with time... like all great artists' work does. perhaps, it is imperative that it does change. look at the success of someone like picasso - or in today's realm, madonna - people who have changed style, content, thematic, subject matter - time and time again (sometimes 180°turns at the drop of a hat), and have remained completely successful at doing so... i don't think that i have had any relative success myself thus far, but that doesn't mean that, as an artist, i shouldn't embrace change, and the evolution of one's own art... which means... that i am going to have to make some concessions - not to my audience - and not to my soul - but to my mind! i am going to have to intellectually allow for this freedom... not the easiest thing for a pragmatic capricorn to do...

for 2000's "oread - portrait of collette jacobs," BRADY referenced a fashion photograph that he took of his friend while living in miami beach the year before.

it's true. BRADY's painting "lady, the tiger" was indeed inspired by the famous frank r. stockton childrens' tale.

here, the artist shows off in his midtown studio with the aforementioned unfinished painting (2001).

who knew? BRADY owns no easel. most of his paintings are completed with the artist sitting on the floor listening to his favorite evocative audio selections.

BRADY puts the finishing touches on "the descension of madame mineurecanal of faubourg marigny" in his upper east side studio (2004).

BRADY completed his latest paintings "massassi warrior" and "the keog boorn experiment" while listening to the audio commentary tracks of "stars wars" movies on DVD.

there are few BRADY paintings that never get finished. one of them is seen here in a rough detail.

the canvas is now lost. (1995)