photo: bryan soderlind
Brandon Mclean is a good friend of mine and a talented artist. Brandon resides at one of the most progressive wakeboarding locations in the world and is inspired daily by the amount of progression on the water. Read more about Brandon and find out some really interesting facts about the artist.

PW: How did you get started doing artwork?

BM:I'm not entirely sure how I got started making art. It has been a gradual process over the last nine years or so. I had a stroke in 2000 when I was 18 and the artistic urge began to grow after that. I have tried to research the effect of strokes on the brain in regards to changes in creativity, but I believe for myself that blood clot that rocked the right side of brain sparked something, because I previously wasn't into art @ all. Then the process started slow with working with collages in journals, and working on paper. Eventually I began to work on canvas and different pieces of scrap wood, just trying out all kinds of methods, and techniques. I just started running with it truthfully, making work and enjoying the ride. I say keep experimenting, and follow your intuition, you'll be amazed @ what you can turn out sometimes. It's honestly my favorite way to spend a day..

PW: Has the creative environment of living at the projects and being close friend to pat ponakos affected your work?

BM:Pat and the Projects have been great in regards to affecting my work. I have been there for three years now, and I don't think I would have been able to make as much work as I have if it wasn't for that place. First off I am deeply in debt to Pat for his generosity, encouragement, and friendship over these past few years, and not to mention allowing me to use his wide array of power tools, that he has to make different surfaces and installations.. Buy Ridgid tools !! Also meeting so many other creative people that come out to the projects has been amazing. Of course all the riders and their own sense of creativity on the water, but also numerous other artists, photographers, and film makers. All these awesome people making it in life doing something they have passion for. 'Misfits live and breathe in an atmosphere of passion' (Saying on the first Projects t-shirt I designed)

PW: Can you explain your work? Its not your normal paintings.

BM:Umm.. I always seem to go back to the phrase 'character excursions' when describing the paintings. I really enjoy the stories behind people and events that take place in the everyday that shove the individual along the path of life. I am so curious about the mysteries behind people; where they came from, what makes them turn out the way they do. Everyone has a story, many as interesting as a hollywood movie, yet we worship a well known star while the guy you see riding a lawnmower down the sidewalk could have a much more interesting personal history. I like to let the viewers of the work find things that they can relate to, whether it's a picture, or a word, or color. I feel everyone can connect to the work in their very own way. Re-connecting to their personal memories..

PW: I know you use alot of different types of canvases. Whats the coolest canvass youve made into a piece of art.

BM:I usually tend to paint on wood because it's much more economical than canvas.. I can take a sheet of plywood for $20 bucks and build 6 or 8 big pieces where as one pre-stretched canvas can cost you $20 bucks. But I guess the coolest thing I made into art would probably have to be the road gap out @ the Projects.. The old lake to lake transfer from back in 2000 or 2001. I took a large canvas transfer and surrounded it with tons of scrap wood from various rail building experiments and built a giant wood juxtaposition. I had a great time making that one, although now two years later it's pretty dilapidated.. 'Alter Egos are Great'

PW: The large store front display you made for Urban Outfitters was a pretty large scale art piece. What was it like working on that size of work?

BM:I loved working on the window display for Urban Outfitters. I had been slowly working on these small wooden blocks, a homage of sorts to baseball cards. They were filled with all kinds of topics ranging from family photos, baseball logos, or Kennedy assassination newspaper clippings. They were more of an exercise to get working on a small scale, to kinda jump start the art making for the day, working out my own observations and interests. When I came across the opportunity to display @ Urban Outfitters I thought why not just expand on that idea of hundreds of various blocks of collage and paint. I cut up over two sheets of plywood into 4" x 6" blocks and went through the paper archives, pulling so many images from the past. Going in to set up that day was awesome, I just had all the supplies, an ipod, and no idea how I was gonna hang it all up. Just letting the composition come out. It only took about 8 hours...

PW: How do you get inspired for each different piece of art?

BM:Getting inspired always seems to be different. Sometimes it comes from seeing other peoples art. Like after I go to an art show, I can't wait to get home and start working on my stuff. Also sometimes from movies or just various patterns or typography you see in the world.. A lot of the time though it comes from the lapse of time of not doing art, and knowing that I have to get stuff done for various commitments, and getting stuff made to satisfy my own needs as well. I like this quote though from artist Chuck Close ' "Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work"

PW: Where can people see your work and maybe purchase a piece?

BM:You can check out my work primarily on my website www.elus1v.com. I try to update it quite frequently as each piece is made, or after I have various shows. I also have an etsy store (elus1v.etsy.com) where you can purchase works...

Or just email me anytime and we can work something out..

PW: Wheres the next show or display your work will be showcased?

BM:I have a few different shows coming up.. I will have one piece in a group show called 'Life Essentials' which will be on display through the Art Whino Gallery @ Art Basel down in Miami. I also have a couple exhibitions @ venues in Orlando and Tampa and I will have a booth @ surf expo in January, which I'm particularly excited about.. Check out my website (http://www.elus1v.com) for updates and details... Thanks..