Ellis Island View of Liberty Collage

Ralph Michael Brekan started oil painting at age 12 (1986). In High School he excelled in theater and fine arts, earning college credits and acceptance at several prestigious art schools, including Parsons, Columbia College, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts (1992). Deterred by cost, Brekan accepted a scholarship to Scottsdale Community College (1993-1994) where he began shooting experimental art films and contributing visual art and multimedia to art parties, concerts, and raves. In 1995-96, Brekan briefly expatriated to the Czech Republic. Returning to Phoenix in the Spring of 1996, Brekan unveiled a series of works based on his photographs of Prague. Soon after he joined IATSE and worked as an assistant to production designer, Catherine Hardwicke on Warner Bros. motion picture, "Three Kings." The success and cash flow presented Brekan to mainstream galleries around the world. In 2003, Brekan's portrait of Andy Warhol (c. 1997) was acquired by Musee Artcolle, the international center for the documentation of the art of collage and assemblage, in Plemet, France. In October of 2004, Brekan returned to Los Angeles exhibiting My Love Affair with Barbie at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. The following spring his paper collage, Gypsy exhibited at the Salon International du Collage Contemporain, in Paris, France. In 2008 Brekan completed a series of paper collages created from recycled fabric print artwork and scanner art. These "Sign Language" pieces exhibited at Paulina Miller Gallery in downtown Phoenix. In 2010, Brekan began work on the experimental art-film Lighthouse Lane, with his brother Douglas. Completed in 2012, the film won several awards including Best Experimental Film at The LA Movie Awards, culminating with a private screening at Sundance Film Festival in 2015. In 2014, the Pasadena Playhouse State Theater hired Brekan to serve as properties master for the 2014-2015 season. In 2015 he served as production designer on the Lionsgate Pictures feature film, A Dog and Pony Show, starring Mira Sorvino and Ralph Macchio. In February of 2017, Brekan's lifelong dedication to fine art culminated in a 25-year retrospective exhibition of Brekan’s art career, spanning from his senior year of high school to his 45th year of life. Two separate, month-long exhibitions were held, one at UCLA’s Exchange Room Gallery in February and the other at Tempe History Museum’s Community Gallery in June the same year.