Stephen Brandes’ initial body of work grew from a visual diary he made in 1999 during a recreation of his grandmother's flight through Europe, to escape from the pogroms in Romania in 1913. His work has since developed into what might best be described as an absurdist travelogue – a perpetually re-invented fiction that ricochets across a vast terrain, both chronologically and geographically. Encompassing a lexicon of styles and materials - from small scruffy paintings and collages, to vast highly detailed drawings on unexpected surfaces (like used floor vinyl or straight onto the gallery wall), history is interwoven with his own experience and invention, as if told by a bewildered traveller whom we suspect has only left his armchair to put on the kettle. Throughout his work, Brandes misquotes both the familiar and the exotic to absurd effect, whilst injecting the fantastical with deadpan humour and dry social observation.
Stephen Brandes was born in Wolverhampton, UK in 1966 and now lives and works in Cork after moving to Ireland in 1993. He represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale 2005 as part of ‘Ireland at Venice’, and has shown in numerous exhibitions both in Ireland and internationally.
Solo projects include: A Grand Tour of the Invisible North, Galerie Robert Drees, Hannover, Germany, 2009; Walpurgisnacht, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, 2008; Why Travel? Right Here is Fantastic!, Ardbia Gallery, Galway, 2007; Chutzparadiso, West Cork Arts Centre, 2006; Klutz Paradiso, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, 2006; Ways of Escape, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, 2004. Group exhibitions include: Girl Power and Boyhood, Kunsthallen Brandts, Odense, Denmark, 2006; Cross the Line, Conrads Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2006; ‘live’, Interim.Projekte, Frankfurt, Germany, 2005; Permaculture, Project, Dublin, 2003; Necessary Journeys, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, 2003; ‘The Retreat’, City Limits, Melbourne, Australia, 2004.
Public collections include the Irish Museum of Modern Art, An Chomhairle Ealaíon /The Arts Council, AIB Bank and Crawford Gallery, Cork.
Brandes has also worked on several curatorial projects, most notably Superbia, commissioned by Breaking Ground in Ballymun, Dublin, 2003 and with artists Mick O’Shea and Irene Murphy formed the absurdist culinary performance group, The Domestic Godless.
He is represented by Rubicon Gallery, Dublin.
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