It has been my focus in recent works to examine the way in which life-defining experiences are sought.  Often, it is the urban residential setting that is at the center of my observation.  These settings, as outposts of a culture, promise to be the framework for the realization of psychological, sexual and political self awareness.

Often, the visual vocabulary in the paintings I create references neighborhoods in some stage of a reclamation process, or a community focused on maintaining its sense of an identity.  However, the outcome of these endeavors of interest to me are not a phenomena that I typically wish to depict as being fully known.  In many instances, I wish to make my viewer aware of the presence of divergent, or conflicting ideals, or sensibilities.  I would like to discuss the challenges that are present when the trajectory of a place, or a people is either made complicated by a lack of economic development, or when development is executed in a way that serves a less than ideal purpose.

My objective is to engage my viewer in a discussion of methods by which these conflicting ideals can be negotiated, and how the life-defining and self-defining experiences of those in my sphere of observation can be best accommodated and nurtured.

Brad J. Dupuy