"The Wooden Boy" by San Francisco Artist Brian Moore

"The Wooden Boy" and his many looks ... 

The Wooden Boy

Arriving at the Hunters Point Shipyard Artist colony in San Francisco one gets the impression that the ghost's every artist speaks of having experienced on site are very real. They must become fast friends to any artist working in the isolated buildings. This sort of essential atmosphere that can push an artist to create profound work that not only speaks to them but also the world. Brian Moore has achieved this. His new body of work titled "The Wooden Boy" arrives timely with it's finger on the pulse of the so called civilized world ripping it's self in two. Two Words dominate our conversation, "Fake News."

Before me are two large Pinocchio "War Time" paintings with disarmingly whimsical characterization. Rendered in playful style, up close each wooden boy looks like a single piece of wrapped candy. Step back and they become clusters looking like an all out Pinocchio mass genocide. Wooden boys being blown to bits and my is it deeply satisfying.

"Pinocchio Genocide" acrylic on canvas, 2 x 48" x 68", 2017

Everyone knows the tale of Pinocchio, the wooden boy who in all his lies has a nose that just won't stop growing. I used to think this was a simple story, this was the entrapment's of youth that blocked my vision. In fact the tale of Pinocchio is one giant mountain of a metaphor with warnings so extreme it gives me heartburn. The warnings picked up speed as they do I our lives as well. This story is directly to you, me and all of us, and modern science can prove it with quantum physics. Our thoughts are all related and we decide events with mass conciseness. Suddenly "Fake News" feels a to more sinister than a simple lie.

Brian and I converse over a background of thumping Pink Floyd music. I find this to be very fitting. "No one has any faith anymore" he says. I couldn't agree more. Talking of how our world has fallen ill and become over run with chronic fibbing, we can't help but giggle at the absurdity of life. From news anchors to tabloid newspapers, lying has become the nations favorite past time. From there it slowly trickles down to the playground where our children's noses grow the size of Louisiana and no one says anything. Behind the scenes and in the backrooms lying is rewarded with praise and monetary gain, no wonder as a whole we are deeply confused. This is not the real world

Brain Moore 2017

Taking a look at the world as we know it to be now and in the context of "fake news" to then deconstruct and analyze The Wooden Boy as a character could just save our lives or at very least re direct us to an honest way of life. One of the points in the work that Brian hits directly on the head is, "after a certain age, every artist works with injury." Brian say's this while pointing at a three dimensional representations of Pinocchio, one of the many pieces of wood fixed to the canvas with wire springs popping from it's chest. A few of his wooden boys have broken legs, I can't help but relate. Other depictions include graphic cuts out of Pinocchio's face showing the beloved icon looking deeply disturbed against an uncomfortable green backgrpound followed by his head exploding like frosting thrown against a wall. The paint is thick and filled with aggression.

Brian Moore comes from a fierce commercial advertising background. Turning his attention to fine art was an evolution over time. Painting in bright colors and going after each image with real force, you can see his training in advertising pop up now and then life a good friend who happens to have really good compositional insight. Being at Brian's studio many times over the past few years you can see he approaches it like play with a little discipline thrown in the mix too and he gets results. "The Wooden Boy" is fiercely intellectual and disarmingly playful. There however has always been a under current hiding under the playfulness. I used to lovingly refer to it as "Scrapping back the cupcake" in reference to his painted cupcakes series.

"If You Keep Lying, You Head Might Just Explode"

Studio 2517

Brian Moore's work space is at the edge of San Francisco in the old military buildings of the Hunter Point Shipyard. Studio 2517. He helps run the coming and goings of the artists paradise. A huge ongoing renovation project is stirring down by the water and it's more relaxed than is previous years. Some of the buildings are scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt. The guard no longer pounces on guests when approaching the occupied military zone. Now they just let you in and there is even a grocery store out there at the edge of town with lemonade and fresh sandwiches. It does however help if you can tell the military personal whom you are visiting. The public is open to visit Brian Moore and the other shipyard artists during the seasonal "Open Studios." I leave Brian's studio sincerely wanting Moore. His evolution as an artist fascinates me.

  René Capone, 2017

"The Wooden Boy" multi media painting on canvas, 2017