Still, moving and materialized

Brand’s constructions are synthetic reflections of the tangible world. His detailed interpretations of reality balance between a plausible rendering of this reality and the clinical appearance of a digital facade. In his animations he offers a suggestion of life while letting the impersonal, untouchable consequences of a digital recreation shine through.

After working solely in the digital domain for several years now, Brand tenaciously explores the rapidly expanding technical and plastic capabilities of 3D-modelling software. These new techniques enable him to create works that don’t have to rely on a brush on canvas, a stroke of the pen or the chisel on stone, but which can be realized in the mostly unmapped field of digital construction.

Natural themes and landscapes have been a constant in his work since the start of his career. Ranging from romantic evening scenes in the forest to absurdist and even humorous sequences in which unnatural objects undergo transformations within the logic of virtual intangibility. His animations are detached from a classical narrative and display an almost meditative repeated motion. These qualities invite the spectator to keep on looking for substantial amounts of time.

The emphasis in his work from the past decade has lied on prints and animations. In recent years Brand has been searching for ways to materialize his digital shapes. Objects which used to have a strictly digital ‘existence’ in the eerie atmosphere of 3D-modelling are now made into tangible objects made of brightly coloured steel or plastics. Several monumental sculptural projects have been realized in the public space of South Korea. These highly reflective, shiny abstractions somehow maintain their virtual origins. They act as test cases for an implied materiality of an essentially intangible technique.