“In addition to his work as visual artist, Jonathan Brilliant is a drummer. It’s a good fact to know about him upfront as the cadence and underlying pulse inherent to such percussive sensibilities impart an edge to his art that explains a lot about what’s happening. There are distinct tempos, repetitions and an underlying structure in his artwork. These Rhythmic qualities lend a certain presence and pattern to his installations where you can literally feel the vibe” -Dave Delcambre, October 2010 Artsee Magazine full text here
In 2006 I began My “Goldsworthy of the coffee shop project” initially assuming the role of a British artist who gathers materials in his natural environment and uses them to execute a site-specific installation. In my version the natural environment was the coffee shop, and my materials were the to-go coffee cup and all it’s accoutrements. The resulting work was both ironic and labor intensive with a traditional craft based sensibility. In this ongoing series of work, I now continue to explore my sense that the coffee shop and related consumer environs are more organic and nurturing than the “real” natural environment. To date the project has been realized in several locations as site-responsive installations. Central to these works are my woven stir stick installations. The Woven stick installations are created entirely in situ using only tension and compression to create a sculptural environment. In 2009 this work was expanded into an itinerant artist project. Traveling to several locations in succession for the Have Sticks Will Travel World Tour, I created multiple installations entirely in situ during the course of 8-10 day residencies at each location.
Central to all my work is an interest in patterning and mark-making fused with the use of pre- and post-consumer manufactured materials and the use of rhythm and repetition to create installations, objects, and works on paper. Running through my work is a real enthusiasm for the inherent qualities of a material and the extent to which I can exploit it for making art. Rather than relying solely on intuitive approaches I have a set of systems I apply to the materials at hand. These systems include, but are not limited to: weaving, welding, stacking, arranging, drumming, beating, rusting, drawing, photographing, looking at, and thinking about.
-Taken from Jonathan Brilliant's website
