The Paintings of Vivien M. Reh

bop or brain on paint is a series started in 2019. Exemplary of Vivien's experimental abstract expressionist style, the smaller paintings (11" x 14") are numbered, while the larger (16" x 20") paintings were given titles in reference to recurring themes within the thoughts and feelings of the artist. The titular painting 'brain on paint' is the largest (22" x 28") and most contrived painting of the series and is based on a poem by the same name, which predates the series:

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brain on paint

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falling into trapdoor mars stars

obscured by titanium tiles

phthalo builds broken dams

covered in sienna scabs

echoing ochre overcast eyes

drunk on quinacridone puddles

where diaphanous zinc bells

of cadmium crushed ribs

ring cobalt skin colored skies

napthol poured into cuts

seems I have hansa for hands

The flower paintings were painted from 2017-2018. Entirely experimental, Vivien began pressing flowers in books and then between large wooden boards. Later in the series, a legitimate flower press was gifted to the artist. The earlier paintings were done on heavy weight paper scraps while the artist perfected their methods they also graduated to canvas paper. The artist experimented with different techniques to better preserve the color of the flowers, including how the flowers were pressed, what glue was used, and when/whether the paintings were varnished. Ultimately feeling constricted by the materials and saddened by the fading flowers, Vivien concluded the series shortly after writing the following poem:

dissociating in Cancer season

feeling fed up with flowers

exhausted by their growth

have you seen a petal less

perfect still I am perfectly

sick so let them rot in their

vases where we watch this

dispassionate death catch

up with our cuts