In a world awash with conceptual art and abstraction, Michael De Brito's paintings stand out as a modern take on the bravura of figurative masters of the Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries.
He esteems tradition as a guiding force that gives life and meaning to contemporary work. De Brito’s work recalls the quality and execution exhibited by the masters: an indelible technical mastery of light, shade, and color learned through careful study. The canvases of Diego Velasquez, John Singer Sargent, Edgar Degas, Joaquin Sorolla, and Anders Zorn have all divulged secrets, benchmarks and directions. The result is the power of confidence – a final brush mark made at the very first trained stroke.
Just as it fascinated the masters before him, the human being, formidable and familiar, provides De Brito with interminable nuances and expression. Its study remains unsaturated. His personality influences his subject matter, but not in an ironic or sarcastic way. Instead, he prefers to capture the beauty of his subject, drawing the viewer in, and providing a rich ground for commentary on emotion, character, the human condition, and the modern world.
Instead of delivering in concept alone, De Brito builds on the solid foundation of centuries of human achievement. Through keen observation of the past’s great mastery, new mastery is achieved. Moreover, it offers both a critique and an alternative to the folly of conceptual art. A criticism upon criticism, Michael De Brito’s work is making Velasquez and the bravura painters modern.
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