Seattle, WA fine artist John Brophy #artistaday

'Oasis'

'Beloved'

* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.

About John

John Brophy creates paintings that blend artifacts from global cultures and belief systems and juxtaposes them with the overarching affects of western consumer culture. Taking cues from the religious imagery of 15th century Flemish Primitive art, he takes their use of intimate compositions and understated gestures and reworks them using contemporary imagery to create surreal yet immediate new icons for the modern age.

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Kirsten Anderson

Owner, Roq La Rue Gallery

"John Brophy is someone who blew my mind right out of the gate. His first painting ever exhibited was absolutely fantastic and I'm a bit staggered, considering what a great level he started from, how his work grows by leaps and bounds with each exhibition. He's an artist's artist and really does his homework and is super disciplined about his craft."

John appears in the following Top 10 lists

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'Washington'

'2009'

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"Very interesting work John when painting is explained by you it gives it a new meaning , the story is very important."

"I think im the first to say that I don't get it. I mean, its pretty and all but it doesn't make any sense. even a title would shed some light on these paintings. it doesn't tell me a story much less grab my attention. its pretty and very well painted but...not for me"

"you know your good, what can we say?"

"Beautiful work!"

"Amazing surrealism! Beautiful technical artist! Keep up the good work. I would love to see into your mind... it's so fascinating."

"John s work is meticulous and well executed"

"Thanks everyone for the kind and critical words. This is the first time I have ever gotten feedback of my work on a large scale. It's interesting to see the different takes people have on these paintings... and a bit scary too. Kind of like sending your kids off to their first day of school. I'm glad that they have been well-received my so many of you! But I'm also grateful for the criticisms. The honesty of your comments are very much appreciated! It's funny that Salvador Dali came up... more than once. Seeing his work when I was a teenager was one of the main reasons I became interested in painting. But I thought that I had left his influence behind long ago. It's funny that it still comes across. But from my perspective, the only Dali-like bit of iconography that I see in these works is the cube-shaped hole carved out of the chest. But maybe there are other, more subtle aspects that shine through that I can't see...The weird animal in the other painting is a tapir. Having lived in Japan for many years, I developed a deep interest in the multitude of mythological animals that are indigenous to Japanese spiritualism. There are zillions of them! The tapir is the "dream-eater". It devours dreams for food. When kids have a nightmare they are often comforted by their parents who tell them to feed it to the baku (tapir) to make it go away. I thought it would be an interesting character to use in some paintings. And for those of you who don't know Japanese, the character between the baku's heads, as well as the one that is on the Visa card in the block of ice means "dream".Thanks again to everyone, and to ARTISTADAY! Much more to come. Stay tuned!"

"Surrealism~~~AGAIN... Gosh seriously... we don't need any more Dali-inspired-surrealists. Technically, very skilled artist, but... i had enough surrealism."

"I absolutely love "Siren's Lullaby" on the website. I encourage you to look. I also agree with "K." It has a timeless look, I like the Asian influence on the second painting, too."

"Reminds me of Leslie Ditto who was also on ARTISTADAY previously, however, John's work really have a meaning although for me its not essential..Nice to see a Dodo of Mauritius in your Web's gallery.."