Brien Coleman is a New York artist born in Miami Beach who creates mixed-media art that has its roots in early European surrealism. He has had residences and exhibitions in New York, Amsterdam, Miami, New Mexico, Toronto and Crete.

Arriving in New York City in the mid 1970’s, he attended Columbia University and soon became part of the burgeoning creative scene of downtown Manhattan. As one of the original contributors to the East Village Eye and frequent collaborator in producing legendary nightclub events, he was at the center of the rush of talent that flooded the downtown art scene from late 1970’s through the 1990’s. Brien was part of an underground circle of writers, actors, musicians, filmmakers and artists , many of whom went on to world renown.

Parallel to his art and writing pursuits were stints as impresario, construction worker, fortune teller, and traveller to the West Indies, Brazil and Central America. While living in Oaxaca, Mexico he was inspired by the boldly expressive lithographic posters from the golden age of Mexican filmmaking and assembled two collections of work, Enigmatix One and Two, later to be consolidated with newer creations to form his book “Strange Magic”.

Fascinated with the idea of fellow artists as film stars and media icons, he began incorporating them into his photo-montage practice along with glamorous faces from international cinema. Over time he populated his canvases with more of these exotic visages including notables from historical periods and mythology which he placed in situational tableaux that echo the styles of Russian Constructivists, Mexican muralists, Zurich Dadaists and the Pop and Psychedelic practicioners of the 1960’s. Transcending traditional cut and paste collage methods, he uses constructivist and dadaist techniques to position his figures dynamically within a larger universe of monumental architechture and landscapes.

Renaissance perspective is central to Coleman’s ethos as his celluloid gods and goddesses, accompanied by saints and assorted deities, glide in and around vistas of columns, temples and skyscrapers often intercut with luxuriant flora. His subtle use of panoramic proportion is such that the viewer hardly notices that they are being guided back and forth between radically clashing cultural epochs, civilizations and attitudes.

Brien has created a multi-dimensional, phantasmagoric universe which is a colorful parallel to conceptual and minimalist trends of the past five decades.