Thomas Davis: When did you start to paint? Has painting always been your preferred form of self expression?

Brian Calvin: I started painting right around 1990. I enjoy playing music just as much, if not more so, but I think my temperament is better suited for painting.

TD: You’ve previously described your work as portraying ‘generalised glimpses of Californian youth’. Is that still true now?
BC: I try to avoid describing my work. I prefer to to let the paintings describe themselves!

TD: Your portraits seem to have a deceptively simple, post-impressionist feel to them, usually with a subject who is looking contemplatively out of the canvas. How do your new exhibition pieces differ from previous works?
BC: I think that description is somewhat apt for a lot of the work I’ve been making for the last several years. The portraits are all invented and I was focussed on how much information I could strip away and still have a visual and an emotional potency. I think this exhibition may be a bit more eclectic as it includes more stray thoughts and singular inclinations.

TD: What about the characters you paint – are they based on people you meet or do you paint them without having a specific person in mind?
BC: Although the figures I paint are entirely invented, I pay close attention to to how people construct their own identity and that certainly comes to bear on the paintings as they progress.

TD: I read that you paint in acrylic – that must be be pretty fast-drying and unforgiving, it’s impressive that your paintings are so flawless.
BC: Actually I work in both acrylic and oil and, from my perspective, my paintings are full of flaws. I tend to work in quick layers and am constantly tweaking things. But you are right that acrylic can be unforgiving. Finishing a painting can be like making a soufflé, although I can’t say I’ve ever attempted making a soufflé.

TD: Do you have a particular favourite from your exhibition at Corvi-Mora this month?
BC: I have been working with Corvi-Mora for almost fifteen years and I adore them. They are, and have always been, absolutely supportive in a crucial way. Sentimentally, my favourite work in the show is Init. It has a certain something something and I already miss living with it.

Brian Calvin: Corvi-Mora Gallery
October 10th to December 21st , 2013
1A Kempsford Road, SE11 4NU, London
Open Daily 11:00–18:00

Christophe Lemaire Yak and Wool-Blend Sweater £470

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