User:Bbswl13/sandbox

Bryan Ida
Bryan Ida (born in Palo Alto, California) is a musician and contemporary artist based in Los Angeles. He uses panels, pen, acrylic painting, ink, enamel, oil painting, and canvas to create many of his different art pieces. Canvas is made from woven fabric, usually from cotton or linen fibers, and used to make fashion handbags, backpacks, shoes, and for painting. Ida’s art themes include institutionalized discrimination, and social and political issues, which he showcases through portraits. His other themes include endangered species and the environment, which he shows through his paintings. Ida has participated in many museums, galleries, and exhibitions.

Website: https://bryanida.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryanida/

Life and Education
Bryan Ida was born and raised in Palo Alto, California. Music was a big part of his life as he played the French Horn as a child. Ida played in his school orchestra and youth symphony. In high school, he became intrigued with electronic music and pursued his college studies in electronic music composition. Ida attended Sonoma State University from 1984 to 1986 and San Jose State University from 1986 to 1989.

Bryan Ida worked as Sam Francis’ studio assistant in 1988 in a studio in Palo Alto. During this time, Ida took photographs, used paint and painting tools. Francis took Ida to his Los Angeles studio, where Ida worked with canvas, paint, and paper. Francis became a significant influence and mentor to Ida. Working with Francis was a pivotal moment in Ida’s life as he knew he wanted to become a painter.

Artwork
con.Text

Bryan Ida draws a series of portraits that depict the person as brave, "standing in the face of oppression by a power against them," as Ida writes on his website. Ida uses texts from official records and papers to create his portraits. The texts used are words that the person has been affected by. The images are created using pen ink and stand 5 feet tall on a panel. His first portrait was created in 2018, titled "Grandfather," a portrait of Ida's grandfather. The portraits have excellent attention to detail in drawing a person's face and clothing, as well as accessories like sunglasses, eyeglasses, hats, and jewelry.

Nature-Endangered Species

In this series, Bryan Ida focuses on painting nature and endangered species. He illustrates the harm we do to the environment and its species. In some pieces, Ida paints forests and glaciers, and with the use of tape, he paints new images of air pollutants from factories. Ida also draws endangered species, like polar bears, snow leopards, red pandas, and elephants, and paints them in almost complete darkness to "serve as a metaphor for the dwindling populations of endangered species and the threat of extinction that looms over them," he writes on his website. The paintings are created using acrylic paint on panels or canvas material made from woven fabric.

Exhibitions

 * September 28th, 2023 - January 6th, 2024 - Bakersfield Museum of Art - "Bryan Ida: A Life of Change"
 * May 25 – September 9, 2023 – Bakersfield Museum of Art – “The Circle of Sam: The California-Based Studios of Sam Francis”
 * 2021 January – Helms Building, Culver City Arts Foundation  “Projecting Possibilities”
 * 2021 January – Ronald H Silverman Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles “con.Text”
 * 2017 November – LA Artcore, Little Tokyo LA “Beauty Awash in a Sea of Bad News”
 * 2023 February –  “Collective Memory Installation” LA County Department of Arts and Culture, Part of IlluminateLA
 * 2023 January – “Bridging the Pacific” group show  Torrance Art Museum, Torrance CA
 * 2022 January – “Black, White and Shades of Grey”  Kellogg University Art Gallery Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona CA
 * 2019 August –  “Late Summer”   Themes and Projects, San Francisco CA
 * 2014 June – Bluerider Art, Taipei, Taiwan  “Floating California”
 * 2022 January – “We Are…Portraits of Metro Riders by LA Metro/Metro Art, LA Local Artists” Union Station Passageway Gallery