Brent’s mission as an artist is wonderfully straightforward: to inspire and evoke positive emotions in his viewers. Whether it’s happiness, creativity, or mindfulness, his work is designed to create a visceral connection.
This symbiotic relationship between artist and audience fuels Brent’s creative process and gives him the vibrant energy that characterizes his paintings. From the playful Stuffed animal stack to the complicated Quiltshis art invites the viewer to come closer, take in the textures and revel in the multitude of colors. Brent hopes that the joy he experiences in his studio will rub off on anyone who sees his work, encouraging them to interpret and fantasize freely and to stay present in the moment to truly appreciate the experience. His collaboration with Maddox Galleryincluding a solo debut, marks an important milestone in a career dedicated to bringing joy and inspiration to the world through art.
Popspoken: The textures in your work are incredibly detailed and reminiscent of plush fabrics. What role does texture play in storytelling and how do you decide which materials or objects to depict?
Brent Estabrook: Texture plays an insane role in my artwork, whether it’s quilts or plush toys. It gives life to the paintings. Painting plush fabrics taught me how important intentional texture is in paintings. Even a single brush stroke on top of another can add depth to a painting, so imagine hundreds, even thousands of brush strokes! As far as materials or objects go, the real answer is that I let my creativity guide me. I often say that I’m not the one who has full control over my paintings: my creativity does that.
Popspoken: The Perpetual Recess series, with its energetic and baroque compositions of stuffed animals, reinterpretations of classic cartoon characters and more, put you on the map of contemporary art. What inspired you to choose stuffed animals as your main subject? What do they represent to you in the past and today?
Brent Estabrook: The seeds of Perpetual Recess were planted one afternoon in 2015 when I was hanging out with my niece and nephew, who were 5 and 7 at the time. It was a year after I graduated from dental school, and they were showing me all their stuffed animals, running back and forth between their bedroom and the living room, throwing one stuffed animal after another into a pile. Artistically, I remember looking down and thinking, this is very interesting, the colors, the textures, etc., but what touched me on a deeper level was what they were feeling. They radiated so much joy, love, and passion, I could see they were having the time of their lives. It was that passion, that joy, that I wanted to channel into my art.
These positive emotions like joy, wonder, happiness, playfulness, passion and love are so powerful and I believe that as adults we tend to lose some of that, especially the joy, playfulness and unfiltered wonder and passion for life that we had as children. I wanted my art to remind all of us, children and adults alike, of that passion. I wanted to create art that evokes joy above all else.
For me, it still represents that, even though I no longer make those incredibly meticulous and time-consuming paintings. The only way to get a painting of Stuffed Animal Pile is now through one of my limited edition prints. So now they also have that level of meaning that only closing a chapter can give you, more than just a sense of accomplishment, but also an overwhelming sense of gratitude for what those paintings have done for me and my career.
Popspoken: You mentioned that your artistic career began in dental school because you were frustrated with student debt. How did this turning point as an unconventional artist shape your view of art as a profession, and how does it influence your current work?
Brent Estabrook: I think it helped me from the beginning to understand creative development as a cornerstone of my work and career and to take challenges and turn them into art. These early works helped me realize that a career in art was not just a dream but a viable option for me. When I got my bachelor’s degree, I studied art because I loved it. Art has always been something I enjoyed. Even when I took the rules very seriously, or when I became a “serious” artist, my paintings themselves were never serious. There was always an element of joy and playfulness. Now I’ve let go of all the rules. There are no mistakes, just perfect representations of moments on the canvas. It’s very freeing.
Popspoken: Tell us about the most beautiful moments of your artistic career so far and about your balancing act between the passion for creating and the commercial reality of being exhibited in the homes of celebrities and in galleries around the world.
Brent Estabrook: The constant struggle, especially now, is that I just want to follow my creativity. I don’t want to think about, “Is this painting going to make me money?” I’m doing it purely for the sake of creating. Luckily, I have a great team that makes these creations commercially viable so I can focus on pure creation.
One of the moments when this balancing act between passion and creativity became clear to me was when I decided to paint my Quilts series. This was in 2020, and my crazy stuffed animal paintings were and still are my most in-demand pieces, and I went from painting these crazy but very profitable pieces to essentially painting squares. Someone asked me, “Why are you painting these squares when these other pieces are selling so well?” and I just had to tell them that I knew my creativity was telling me to pursue this, that there was something important that needed to be expressed in these Quilts paintings. Now, just four years later, quilts are also very in-demand pieces.
Popspoken: How do you evoke joy in others and how does your practice influence others’ ideas of joy?
Brent Estabrook: I paint teddy bears and bright colors and everyone really has a different story or a different idea of what brings them joy, but I can tell you with almost 100 percent certainty that everyone takes something positive away from my paintings. I paint that positivity, that happiness, that joy. Whether it’s a stuffed animal or a colorful quilt or a CRAZY quilt, it reminds them of the stories each of them creates around joy. There are so many ways my work evokes joy in others and I know that as long as I continue to work from a state of joy, gratitude, and happiness, those feelings will bleed over into my paintings.
Popspoken What were your most memorable moments at the art gallery and why? In an increasingly digital world where we welcome audiences in real life into immersive spaces, this is why. Tell us more about your experience at Maddox Gallery in Gstaad and how their vision of making contemporary art accessible to a wider audience aligns with yours?
Brent Estabrook: There have been so many unforgettable moments, especially in Gstaad, this town is so peaceful. I just get out my easel and palette in the morning, set it up outside the gallery and work all day long. It’s a very empowering and rewarding experience because I get to interact with so many people – adults, children, everyone, and they love it.
In LA, where I work, anything is possible, nothing shocks people. But in a completely different country, especially in Switzerland, I see how my work really challenges people. They may not understand it right away, but they feel the joy in it. When I see them walking around the gallery, I can actually observe how their opinions change. And it’s like their whole view of art changes. It’s amazing.
Popspoken: Your solo debut with Maddox Gallery is a significant moment in your career. How did this collaboration come about and what attracted the gallery representatives to your work?
Brent Estabrook: It started in 2015 when the owner, Jay Rutland, contacted me on social media. It wasn’t quite the right timing, but it got the relationship going. Then fast forward to 2022: my wife got a TV show in London and would be away for three months, and no joke, two days after she got the offer, Jay reached out again and asked if I wanted to do a show with them in London. The stars just aligned and I immediately said yes. So it ended up that I had a residency with them in 2023, then another open studio event last spring, and then Gstaad this summer. They’ve been great to work with.
