“ONCE UPON A QUIET KINGDOM”
Childhood elements spin into dreamlike scenes when Brandi Milne is behind the paintbrush. Brandi is a self-taught surrealist painter from Anaheim, California. She uses fun colors and deep imagination to create a world that is purely her own. Her fourth solo exhibition, “Once Upon a Quiet Kingdom”, is said to be her most personal and proudest exhibition yet. One can experience her surreal world at the Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles – where “Once Upon a Quiet Kingdom” will be displayed from August 19th through September 16th.
BRANDI MILNE INTERVIEW
TESS (HIGHLARK): Hi Brandi, I absolutely love your paintings! How does it feel to have finished creating your fourth solo exhibition – “Once Upon a Quiet Kingdom”?
BRANDI MILNE: Thank you!! It feels great to be finished with the painting process – I’m so excited to see everything framed and lit and celebrated at opening night!!
TESS: I find it very interesting how you use bright colors in your work – such as pink, yellow, blue, and red – yet your paintings still embody a darker tone. What is your process of deciding how much color to use in your work?
BRANDI: It happens as I go – each painting dictates how much color and if I’m going to use brights or darks, it depends on the mood I want to create and speak from.
TESS: Have you always been drawn to surrealism?
BRANDI: I think I have, although I’ve never really thought about it deliberately. I like the option of endless possibilities that surrealism offers my imagination. I love things to be just off from reality, and that there are no rules – that I can create and express the world that I want to see.
TESS: Your paintings include classic elements of childhood such as candy and cute animals – what is it that you find particularly fascinating about using and recreating childhood elements in your paintings?
BRANDI: It’s a language – those elements from my childhood help me tap into the world or feeling I’m speaking of. They help me relate to others, a certain re-connection to innocence and universal disillusion.
TESS: What aspects of “Once Upon a Quiet Kingdom” would you consider to be unique from the rest of your solo exhibitions?
BRANDI: Everything! The palette sets this work apart as well as feeling and subject and personal insight and understanding. This work is my most proudest, my most personal and transparent.
Photo by Jessica LouiseTESS: Each artist has their own process of working – what is the environment that you like to surround yourself with while working?
BRANDI: Dang, if you could see my workspace… Christmas lights everywhere, walls completely covered in inspiration, and music turned up to 11.
TESS: Have you always known that you wanted to be an artist?
BRANDI: I always knew that I had a special connection to art as a kid. I loved drawing and coloring and looking at children’s storybooks. I loved living in my own imaginary world – drawing haunted houses and ghosts and writing silly stories with my sister.
TESS: What do you enjoy doing when you’re not painting?
BRANDI: When I’m not painting, I love just being a human. Hanging out and laughing my butt off.
[+] BRANDI MILNE
[Official] [Instagram] [Facebook] [Twitter]
