Brennen Steines utilizes chance-based processes to create abstract paintings reminiscent of landscapes. Layers of oil, limestone, and metal are added to the painting substrate, creating a geological sedimentation of pigment on the surface, not dissimilar to dried riverbeds. Emulsive solutions are then applied to the surface of the paintings and evaporate into forms that recall micro and macrocosmic terrains. The shimmering traces of pigment resemble tidal pools, industrial surfaces, geologic formations, and cellular topographies.
Brennen Steines (b. 1993, Rockford, IL) is currently based in New Haven, CT. Steines has presetned two solo exhibitions at DIMIN, As Above, So Below in 2026, and Dispersion Field in 2023. He received an MFA from Yale School of Art in 2022, attended the Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art in 2022, and received a BFA with an Honors College degree from University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2018. Steines was a Yale University CCAM Blended Reality Studio Fellow from 2021 - 2022 and attended the Yale Norfolk School of Art through the Ellen Battell Stoeckel fellowship in 2017. He was an Artist in Residence in Plum Blossom Initiative’s Bridge Work-04 in 2018. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at DIMIN, New York, NY; Chilli Art Projects, London, UK; Museum of Wisconsin Art; West Bend, WI; Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY; Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT; The Alice Wilds, Milwaukee, WI; Usable Space, Milwaukee, WI; and Galerie Kenilworth, Milwaukee, WI.