When making a painting, I review the information that moved my intuition. Is there space? What is the shape of the composition inside the work, and how do the edges matter for the object (the painting)? I want to find a way into the subject that comes from my hand, as well as from the photo, mine or not, or the small sculptural set-ups I make, watch, and paint over time. The content varies; a taxi cab photographed in the 1970s, an egg flat for 30 eggs, or a deep floor under Cy Twombly’s feet in Rome.
I find beauty in the unintended, the banal, and what is universal. The content illuminates and details gravity, light on the surface and the material makeup, and light, shadow, and time passing. The painting Gone Back illustrates the tradition of covering the furniture when summer people return to their full-time home at summer’s end. This marks time and creates a layered composition.
The painting, Outline and Shadows of Cy Twombly’s Untitled (Lexington), is another multi-layered piece. I found this sculpture in a book about Twombly, photographed the image, printed it on my inkjet, cut the sculpture out of the print, and pieced it back together. Pinning the printed paper cut-out to the wall brought forward unexpected shadows and a conceptually complex composition. This piece shows process, ideas around positive and negative space, the picture plane, and reversed content.
The works—The Egg Flat and Tile and Sculpture and François Halard—both use linen as the support for the oil paint and frame. Both are patterns, close up to the surface, and describe light, shade, and form in different ways. The Egg Flat is darker in mood and deeper in view. The Tile painting is flat and upright, and the ceramic material, which could be a wall or a floor, dwarfs the Twombly sculpture positioned upon a pedestal. There are nods to abstraction and flatness, and pattern is important.
Jenny Brillhart
On Space, Form, and Material Matters, 2026