Brian Hibbard
mixed media & painting
Brian Hibbard ended up in North Carolina, after trying to literally walk away from his art. He and his wife planned to hike across America. They started in California after training on the east coast, but after a few days striding over unfamiliar, rocky terrain, their dog's feet blistered and split. They gave up, bought a Westphalia van, lost it to a thief in Colorado, and ended up living in a camper perched atop a mountain.
Compared to that, Hibbard's life years later seems downright staid. He's standing outside his solar-paneled studio dressed in a utilitarian ensemble of polar fleece, navy twill and hiking boots. If the paint streaks on his clothes were dirt instead, he might easily be mistaken for a hand on the Santa Fe ranch where he refined his work ethic.
Instead of replacing the art he'd studied during his college years, Hibbard's sojourn in the Southwest returned him to it with a renewed sense of focus. Since coming back to his Southern roots and staking his claim on a beautiful farm in North Carolina , the man in the primer-striped shorts has become one of the most in-demand, talented and hard-working artists in the region.
This Southern artist takes a modern approach to classical painting, depicting rural landscapes, regal horses and rustic barns. Hibbard has a methodical, workmanlike approach to his vocation, which he pursues through even the occasional bout 'of artist's block. Hibbard prides himself on meeting deadlines and returning phone calls in a timely manner. Even in this recession "It's amazing how busy I've stayed," Hibbard says. "Since I do this full-time, I'm able to jump on opportunities when they come up. If somebody calls, I try within a day or week to jump on it. I really take pride in that."
Hibbard works on panel, not canvas, for most of his paintings. For some of the figurative pieces, Hibbard employs experimental media like tar, mineral spirits and resin. He emphasizes the sculptural element even more in some of his abstract work, like one painting caked with broken bottles and resin. Writer Orson Scott Card said it best when describing Brian’s work as having “ an interesting palette of muted colors that include a strange, metallic brown that suggest copper. His trees and clouds are rimmed with slight shadowing that is... at once representational and yet theatrical. I fell in love with all of his work." We believe you will too.
