Bombs And Broken Glass: Brian Britton

‘In a way their most extraordinary characteristic is that they are man-made. They distort all life and give no freedoms. Somehow, they give us no choice. Not a soul on earth wants them, yet, here they all are.” - Martin Amis, Einstein’s Monsters.

With simplicity of design, detachment of tone and a paired down colour pallet Brian Britton shows artworks of warfare and destruction as well as peacetime and repair.

 

But why does an Artist paint bombs?  And why especially, do they paint bombs devoid of any context that they themselves play out in? No immediate context of lives lost or irreparably shattered by their detonation.

 

In his work Brian Britton’s craftsmanship, the drawing and painting on beautiful mould-made paper, remains untroubled. A collision has been avoided. He has not needed to wear his life on his sleeve to keep his singular sensibility intact.