BRIAN KIDD FINDS HIS OWN MYTHOLOGY

by Emma Riva

Artists are everywhere. When they’re not in the studio, they’re accountants, carpenters, or on staff at your favorite restaurant. Painter and sculptor Brian Kidd “works” at Garbarino’s—but his creative work was on display in the restaurant’s upstairs space this Sunday. Chef Drew Garbarino let Kidd use the event venue, take what he needed for drinks, and hold his first show while the restaurant is closed.

Kidd takes inspiration from the mystical and metaphysical. That elementcomes out most, ironically, when he isn’t painting figures. His abstractions show a freedom of movement and interest in mark-making that feel as if they draw from a higher source, allowing the paint to move intuitively. Indra’s Web particularly struck me, reminding me of some of the colors and techniques in Raymond Saunders’ early work.

There are also literal references to mythology and the occult—one piece titled Cernunnos is a multimedia expression of an ancient Celtic deity. Kidd superimposed a small sculpture of the horned goddess onto a tri-colored background. He hand-sculpted the figure, as he also did the myriad of masks on view. The masks call back to animistic mask making traditions or their use in theater across cultures like Kabuki and Noh or Commedia dell’Arte.

“I’m interested in the all the things that underpin our reality across difference cultures,” Kidd said. “Who’s to say what’s real or not real?”

He became drawn to how different relations and myths organized their value systems after growing up a Southern Baptist family. For this show, he was influenced by the gold leaf and intense coloration of Eastern Orthodox icons. (Warhol was notably also inspired by icons at St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church in Four Mile Run, where he attended as a child). The Creation in Blue is a particular moment of this, evoking Mary’s blue shroud that’s so common on Pittsburgh front lawns.

In A Procession (Unity 1), Kidd came up with a deity of his own, allowing the process to bring out an image from his imagination.

As for whether he has his own spiritual practice, Kidd said he worships “peace” and finds meaning and ritual in cooking good food, drinking good wine, and taking care of himself. “We’re in physical bodies, so that can be a spiritual practice, too,” he said.

Kidd hopes to do another show in the fall, closer to Halloween, but for now, you can find him at Garbarino’s (5925 Baum Boulevard) where his art will remain upstairs for just a little longer. If you see him behind the bar after the show’s gone down, ask him for some photo of the work or about his processA show like Kidd’s reminds us that though so many of us have days jobs, an artist can be anyone you see. It’s worth remembering to walk around the world with that awareness. There’s creativity everywhere for those who know what to ask or where to look.

Last chance to see The Frick Pittsburgh’s Kara Walker: Harper’s Pictorial History of the CIvil War, who has generously sponsored articles in Petrichor for April and May. As Zach Hunley wrote Petrichor: “When viewing the work of Kara Walker, you are bearing witness to history and time compounded.” Revisit the past and rethink the present now at the Frick Art Museum–the show closes May 25!