Brian Mcdonald

Brian McDonald is a mixed media collage artist who lives and works in the mission district of San Francisco. His work can be found in numerous private collections across the US, Canada, and Europe.

ARTIST STATEMENT:
My artwork is driven by a need to make sense of the world around me, which I see as fragmented, contradictory, and anxious. I seek to capture the cartoonishness that runs through American society wherein the individual is not only bombarded by an excess of information, choice, and rampant consumerism, but is also in a constant state of wanting more. Flotsam from this perpetual cycle of consumer pop culture is woven into my paintings, embedding the figures in an intricate web that suggests the non-stop movement of the mind, as well as the depth, complexity, and interconnectedness of life.
Music, cartoons, and dreams are a big influence on my work. I am fascinated with their spatial, temporal and structural components, which I see as analogous to contemporary consciousness. I work primarily with layers of paint and collage that are woven together to create a dense network of relationships ripe with narrative possibilities. By using disparate and often ambiguous imagery, the flow of ideas is disrupted, meaning is subv...

California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
University of Venice, Italy
B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions:
2019:
Zia Gallery, Winnetka, IL
2018:
Zia Gallery, Winnetka, IL
2016:
A Dolt Education, Fayes, San Francisco, CA
Zia Gallery, Winnetka, IL
2014:
Zia Gallery, Winnetka, IL
Scope NY, Reaves Gallery, New York, NY
2012:
Roscoe Gallery, Oakland, CA
2009:
Blackbird, San Francisco, CA
2008:
Clowns In My Coffee, Reaves Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006:
Beautiful Nuisance, Magnet, San Francisco, CA
2005:
National Product, San Francisco, CA
2004:
Bri-Candy, Glama-rama!, San Francisco, CA
2003:
Capobianco Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Hotel Biron, San Francisco, CA

Group Exhibitions:
2021:
Picture Show, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA
2020:
tiny/HUGE, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The de Young Open, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
Delicious, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Urban/Rural, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019:
HUGE, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Alphabet Soup, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Collector's Choice, Zia Gallery, Winnetka, IL
2018:
The Elephant In The Room, Zia Gallery, Winnetka, IL
2017:
Delicious, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
City Streets, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Night Light, St...