Brian GuidryBrian Guidry (b. New Iberia, Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, December 28
,1968 is a contemporary

Contemporary art

Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, and installation artist.

Art

While Guidry considers himself primarily a painter, he also works in multiple media such as sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

, environmental installations

Installation art

Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...

  and video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

. Guidry creates installations that in some sense are a recording of the natural environment. The colors he uses in his work have been sampled from the landscape

Landscape

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...

. In the New Orleans installation "Surge", dried Johnson grass

Johnson grass

Sorghum halepense, commonly called Johnsongrass, is a plant in the grass family, Poaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, but growing throughout Europe and the Middle East. The plant has been introduced to all continents except Antarctica and most larger islands and archipelagos...

 (Sorghum halepense) is the source for color. As an artist concerned with the dynamics of the environment, technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

, power and the manipulation of nature are recurring themes in his work.

Life

Brian Guidry received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana...

 in 1994 and his Master of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

 in Brooklyn, New York in 1997. After living in New York City, he returned to Louisiana in 2001 and currently lives and works in Loreauville, Louisiana

Loreauville, Louisiana

Loreauville is a village in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 938 at the 2000 census. It is part of the New Iberia Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

.

In 2007, he traveled with the late painter Elemore Morgan, Jr.

Elemore Morgan, Jr.

Elemore Morgan, Jr. was recognized among the South's landscape artists. His paintings of rice farms in Vermilion Parish have been widely exhibited from Paris to Los Angeles. Elemore Morgan Jr...

 to New York to help facilitate Morgan’s America project. In 2008 Guidry participated with KK Projects, one of the satellite venues of Prospect New Orleans

Prospect New Orleans

Prospect New Orleans is a multi-venue contemporary art event in New Orleans."Prospect.1 New Orleans" ran from November 2008 to January 2009. Conceived in the tradition of the great international biennials, such as the Venice Biennale, São Paulo Biennial, Istanbul Biennial, it showcased new artistic...

, the New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

 art biennial organized by Dan Cameron

Dan Cameron

Dan Cameron is an American art curator based in New York City and New Orleans.Cameron's early years were spent in Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky and in Hudson Falls, NY. He attended Hudson Falls Public Schools , Syracuse University and Bennington College , where he earned a BA in 1979...

, curator of the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center.

Museum Collections

Brian Guidry’s work is found in numerous private and museum collections around the world, including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art

Ogden Museum of Southern Art

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is located in New Orleans, within the Central Business District adjacent to Lee Circle. It is associated with the University of New Orleans...

 in New Orleans, Louisiana; the New York Public Library

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

 in New York; the Pratt Institute Library in Brooklyn, New York; the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum in Lafayette, Louisiana; and the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, among others.

External links

• Brian Guidry’s official website, accessed June 9, 2010
• Brian Guidry at Legion Arts, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, accessed June 9, 2010
• AMMO Interview with artist Brian Guidry, accessed June 9, 2010
• Brian Guidry discusses his installation at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, accessed June 9, 2010