Between Neighbors

             Between Neighbors is a series of paintings and interactive installations sourced from Brian's encounters with his neighbors in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. The installations invited his neighbors to have a dialog about their relationships with each other and their neighborhood.

             Drawn from memory, the oil paintings expose how cultural boundaries manifest themselves in subtleties of perception. Scenes caught from the corner of the eye allow assumptions to root in the mind as events. The works act as a depiction of division from a neighbor's perspective, inviting the viewer to question the nature of the painter's relationship with his neighbors and its broader significance.

Introducing his baby, oil on canvas, 74"x60"

Buying a six pack, oil on canvas, tryptych of 40"x60"

Taking an order, oil on canvas, 64"x64"

Embrace, oil on canvas, 54"x70"

Experience map, canvas, cork, acrylic, paper, envelopes

            The experience map was filled with 164 individual writings by neighbors and pinned in open envelopes to the location that inspired them. Vistors could brows the stories or ad their own.

Experience map, table

Letter from the experience map

Videos from a "Truth Booth" in which visitors recorded and reponded to each other's messages

Security gate community mural, wraught iron, discarded security gate panels, acrylic paint

            The security gate mural was painted during Between Neighbors 10 day span. People wrote on it as a lined piece of paper or drew on it freely. With the side facing the entrance left bare, it required participants to circumvent it to see its face. As the figures in the paintings its position begs the question whether the viewer's relative position is the reason only its back is exposed.