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Troy Brooks

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Troy Brooks
Born (1972-09-23) September 23, 1972 (age 52) [1]
Chatham, Ontario, Canada
OccupationArtist

Troy Brooks (born September 23, 1972) is a Canadian painter.[2] His art is narrative film noir style portraits of elongated female protagonists which are part of the contemporary Pop Surrealism[3] scene. The Globe and Mail wrote in a 2018 review titled "A Road Trip into Our Psyches"; "a typical Brooks she-devil subject has an elongated face and body, is dead white, dressed elaborately, surrounded by weird animal familiars and/or horrific accidents, and is perhaps transgendered."[4]

"The Wallflower Opus" - 2014 oil on canvas painting by Canadian artist Troy Brooks

Brooks's female subjects are confrontational and mannerist in style.[5] Dubbed The Women Of Troy in contemporary art magazines like Juxtapoz[6] and Hi-Fructose Magazine Brooks's images of unsettling female characters have been exhibited internationally.[7][8]

Early life

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Brooks was born asthmatic and suffered a handful of odd illnesses throughout his youth, including several skin diseases and deadly allergies.[9][10] He became preoccupied with classic Hollywood films of the ’30s and ’40s and later incorporated many of the archetypes and concepts into his work. Brooks suffered serious and sometimes extreme bullying in school. In a 2016 WOWXWOW interview, he stated that, as a result, he “grew up in a constant state of fear and humiliation and my art was the only outlet where I felt I had any authority".[11] Brooks attributes his interest in painting to his mother, who was an amateur watercolorist. He remembers watching her paint when he was two years old and drawing beside her easel. His first drawings were of Wonder Woman.[12][13]

Influences and works

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Brooks received no formal training, working in traditional oils. Cited influences include Lisa Yuskavage, Otto Dix, and Kees van Dongen. His use of dramatic light and shadow echoes the 1940s film noir productions of Warner Brothers and MGM. Brook’s subject matter is near exclusively portraits of women with protracted faces and bodies. They are often dressed elaborately and paired somehow with animal familiars or accidents.[14] They are observed in transformative moments.[15] In a 2017 interview, Brooks said that "the only way to generate any depth in my work is to avoid thinking about it and stay completely intuitive.[16]"

Public works

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In 2014, as part of the World Pride Church Street Mural Project,[17] mural artist Christiano De Araujo worked with Brooks to reproduce his painting "Tower" as a mural. The image stands on the south wall of a two-story building at 418 Church St. in Toronto. It was created as a tribute to those arrested and harassed in the 1981 Toronto bath-house police raids. The image shows a drag queen in a confrontational pose against the police.

References

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  1. ^ "about". Troy Brooks.
  2. ^ Caro (25 March 2016). "Troy Brooks Debuts New Surrealistic Portraits in "Veiled Hearts"". hifructose.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  3. ^ Martinez, Ricardo. "From Pop Surrealism to Lowbrow". Widewalls. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  4. ^ R.M., Vaughan (November 11, 2011). "A Road Trip Into Our Psyches". Phillip Crawley. Globe And Mail. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  5. ^ Rowsome, Drew. "Bad Girls". dailyxtra.com. Pink Triangle Press. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  6. ^ "Paintings By Troy Brooks". juxtapoz.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Unsettling New Portraits of Women by Troy Brooks". hifructose.com. 18 July 2014. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  8. ^ Smith, Andy (July 1, 2018). "Troy Brooks". Vol. 48. Hi-Fructose. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  9. ^ Maclean, Tim (22 November 2016). "Troy Brooks - The Bee Girls - Artist Interview". wowxwow.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  10. ^ Fedoruk, Natalia (September 2014). "Troy Brooks". No. 6. Beautiful Bizarre Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Troy Brooks - Artist Interview". WOW x WOW. 22 November 2016. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  12. ^ Maenius, Chase (July 2018). POWER OF AN IMAGE. BLURB. ISBN 978-1-364-84198-0. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  13. ^ "How To Be An Artist - Interview with Troy Brooks". Asiana Circus. 2 November 2017. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  14. ^ Vaughan, R.M. (11 November 2011). "A road trip into our psyches". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  15. ^ "Juxtapoz Magazine - Paintings by Troy Brooks". www.juxtapoz.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  16. ^ Gordon, Nicole (23 November 2017). "Troy Brooks Up Close and Very Personal". Beautiful Bizarre Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  17. ^ Salerno, Rob. "Church Street Mural Project Brings Colour To Toronto's Village". dailyxtra.com. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.

Further reading

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