Thresholds of Expression: Navigating Artistic Identity Beyond Conventions

About the artist: 

Bryant Eugene Vazquez is a self-taught American artist working in multiple disciplines. 

He is of Mexican-descent, and originally from East Los Angeles, California. 

Vazquez is a painter, musician, songwriter, sculptor, composer, writer, and producer. 

He self-describes as an “Outsider Fine Artist”. Vazquez began his painting career in earnest in the summer of 2015 in Philadelphia, PA. 

He currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona. 

Like Henri Matisse, it used to bother me that my work never resembled what everyone else made. 

It has always been on the threshold of naive and fine art. 

I’ve taught myself over a gruelling decade of trial and error. 

I did not begin to paint in earnest until 2015, but I have been a visual artist since my childhood. 

My work ethic is overwhelming and prolific. 

I have clinical OCD, which comes into play with my work. 

I seek out knowledge that will lend itself to my art. 

The work I create crosses many genres. From figurative to abstract, I experiment with traditional mediums to more avant-garde processes. 

At my core, I am a disciple of late 19th-century and early 20th-century painters; the Symbolists and Expressionists, specifically German expressionism. 

Truly, my work has no specific home due to my nomadic nature. 

This approach acts as a device to keep me and my work from becoming predictable, stagnant, and derivative. 

Images and text courtesy the artist