Cradle
Artist
Holly Branstner
(American, born 1956)
Date1997
Mediumoil on masonite
DimensionsImage Size: 7 3/8 x 11 5/8 in. (18.7 x 29.5 cm)
Frame Size: 11 3/8 x 15 5/8 in. (28.9 x 39.7 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Ruth Rattner, 2011
Object numberUAC5244
DescriptionBorn and raised in Detroit, Holly Brantsner seeks to produce art that feeds her spirit. After graduating with a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Wayne State University in 1983, she has dedicated over 40 years of her life as a working artist. Although, Brantsner has claimed in her personal biography that it's seemed like she's been an artist much longer than that, due to the nature of how 'inseparable being and making are to her existence'. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the University of Dayton, the University of Evansville, Crown Equipment Corporation, as well as many private collections of individuals.Brantsner's work is filled with depth, whether she's combining subjects such as figure and landscape or just focusing on one or the other, Brantsner creates very emotional, ethereal, and occasionally gritty works of art. By using different combinations of landscapes and figures in her work, they serve to function as metaphors that talk about some of life's greater existential themes. Her work is a reflection of her youth; she uses landscapes to represent her personal history: referencing places that both stimulate and haunt her. Within her body of work, you will notice that she's stimulated by both urban and rural landscapes. The feelings and essences of each piece are not only intuitive to her making, but they're tools in her toolbox. Brantsner has the ability to create visceral experiences for viewers through paintings.
Brantsner has written a lot about her work from a reflective vantage point. She explains that the focus on contrasting landscapes within her body of work, between painting rural Northern Michigan and Industrial Detroit, are a way of processing her youth. Brantsner's work is driven by her personal needs; such as a need to seek spiritual quests, ponder the purpose of life, to be personally engaged with beauty, to feel close to God, and to create conversation about the preservation of nature.
Cradle, a small oil painting by Holly Brantsner, takes us into a scene of a woman having a private moment in nature. The scene is of a landscape, with a smoky sky and black hills in the background, and a naked female figure lying at the edge of the foreground. Her head is titled all the way back as she lies within the tall grass. This piece invites us in to witness something beyond what our eyes can typically see, as it gives off a feeling of otherworldliness and a peek into the figure's inner experience of the scene.
Text by Emily Lane Borden
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