Fifty Evenings of Plein Air Drawing The Restoration Process of the Exterior of Kasper’s Hot Dogs by Artist Brian Brooks Telegraph Avenue & 46th Street (2022)

Kasper’s Hot Dogs Exterior Restoration Construction Documentation Brochure Publication (2022)

“I strive to make my publications for a general audience.  I use of black and white graphics to appeal to both humans and animals. I attempt to limit text and prefer infographics.”

Kasper’s Hot Dogs Exterior Restoration Construction Documentation Documentary Videos (2022)

12 short films documenting the artist plein air drawing during the evening commute. Coming soon to the artist’s  Vimeo page.

Temescal Now #1 (zine-style booklet) (2022)

“I began creating zines and brochures of my neighborhood projects, as a way I could share with my neighbors and folks out on the street what it is I am doing out on the street, night after night.”

Temescal Now Instagram Account (2022)

Neighborhood Projects (2021)

Publications (2021)

Video Projects (2021)

Video documentary with original soundtrack by artist Brian Brooks capturing the different steps in the construction of a bus stop build out on Telegraph Avenue and 45th Street. Series includes seven episodes.
Videos are hosted on my Vimeo page.

Neighborhood Projects (2020)

Neighborhood Projects (2019)

Hooper’s Loopers (2019, 2022)
Ongoing series featuring an artist challenging himself to do something interesting in an empty lot. Filmed in the back lot of the vacant Hooper’s Chocolates building on the east side of Telegraph Avenue & 46th Street.

Neighborhood Projects (2018)

To take a break from multiple painting series, Brian replaced his easel with a tripod and continued to head out evening dressed as an artist but this time acting as a film maker, and subject of the film while interacting with the existing backdrops of the neighborhood.

Thus began a number of short film series, most of which were made to loop, due to the social media’s tendency to repeat videos once finished.

Using a trick he learned from filmmaker Emily Wick (Buried Stories, Life With Alex) Brian chose to use the time-lapse function, which allows the filmmaker to slow down time so much that there is not too much footage at the end of a shoot to have to sort through and edit. The time-lapse style also takes away the need for speaking, which helped push these into more of a visual medium, and more physical comedy as was prevelent in the silent film era. Original jolting soundtracks with the ever present comedic sound effects and editing by the artist.

The Chair (2018)
Featuring an artist and his daily meetings with a well-used discarded broken plastic chair. Filmed along Shattuck Avenue between 46th Street and 47th Street.

The Sleeper (2018)
Framed as the wake cycle of an artist who fills his time interacting with the corner of a building and the features of the sidewalk before racing back to sleep before the sun goes down. Filmed on the south east corner of Shattuck Avenue and 47th Street.

Shine Hunters (2019)
short film series featuring Brian and artist Emily Wick in search for reflected shines around their neighborhood.

You Tube Channel

Neighborhood Projects (2017)

Neighborhood Projects (2016)

Neighborhood Projects (2015)

Neighborhood Projects (2014)

Where On Earth Is My Neighborhood?

Neighborhood As A Studio

Emily and I do not own a car, and rarely use one, other than the occasional ride to the airport. We have lived for over 20 years like this.

By not leaving the neighborhood, my fishbowl is relatively small, and as any great artist, I love parameters.
 

I was first introduced to the joys of plein air painting by Oakland born artist John Kilduff in 2014, he incidentally turned me on to the joy of painting through his Mr. Let’s Paint T.V. shows he posts online in 2010. I hadn’t even thought about taking up painting since I had abandoned it in art school some 15 years previous.

Once I got going with out door painting, I all but abandoned in door studio painting. Since then, I have been fortunate to using my neighborhood, as “a studio”. The lighting is superb, and there is plenty of room and different backdrops. And meeting people is much easier when you are out on the street instead of locked away indoors. I consistently keep both long-term, and short term outdoor projects going as my hobby that gets me out of the house.

I began by painting the buildings around the neighborhood. They started out as simple portraits of buildings and have eventually became more ambitious.

I have begun to place some of my projects onto the above interactive map hosted by Google My Maps, it features several painting placed onto the locations of where they were painted from. Most of my later paintings and projects entail moving around to gather many vantage points.

You can view this map full size and zoom in – to see a selection of my plein air paintings and a few drawings. The colored shapes on the map show the vantage point view from where I painted each painting.

It has been a goal of mine to paint and/or draw every building along Telegraph Avenue from 40th to 51st. I have made great progress in this assignment over the past few years.

I capture everything that is there, except I do not include people or cars, or bicycles.