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.) currently lives and works in New Haven, CT. He received an MFA from Yale School of Art in 2022 and a BFA from University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2018. Steines attended the Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art in 2022 and he was a Yale University CCAM Blended Reality Studio Fellow from 2021 - 2022. Steines was awarded the Elizabeth Canfield Hicks Award from Yale University for outstanding achievement in drawing and painting from nature. He attended the Yale Norfolk School of Art through the Ellen Battell Stoeckel fellowship in 2017. His work has been shown at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, South Bend, WI; DIMIN, New York, NY; 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. His work is included in the public collection of the Museum of Wisconsin Art.