ARTIST - BRIGHTON DENEVAN
ARTIST STATEMENT
"I create large scale designs on the landscape, typically beaches, using simple tools and documenting with the latest drone technology. A rake is the primary implement of choice, though snow shoes, shovels and smaller fine detailing implements are used from time to time. I document these creations using a drone, capturing the steps of the process, sometimes catching the wash-away as the canvas is refreshed by the incoming tide. Snow, fire, and light designs are things I've briefly experimented with but would like to explore more in the future.
I've been hired for marketing campaigns, events, music videos, real estate, farms, vineyards, video editing, etc. I use my aerial photography to help people get their story out to the world via video. I also have created precisely mapped logos and requested designs, using grids and X, y axis. One of my favorite things to do is execute a specific design that's requested by the client and incorporate it into my own original design, mixing the commercially viable ephemeral beach billboard and the artistic esoteric whimsy.
Before I was drawing on the sand all the time, I dedicated a great deal of time to pen on paper drawings and my canvas was 8.5x11" for most of my life. Expanding to massive canvas of the beach was an exciting step, another big change of scale would occur when I put the vertical 7 foot screen in this gallery. For over 7 years I have only seen my videos on a phone or computer screen. Bringing the 4k videos to the big 4k screen is an exciting and spontaneous recent development.
I watched my dad draw in the sand for almost 30 years before I decided to pick up the rake in 2020 to try out my own designs. Since then I've produced over 1,000 projects, not only creating the compositions but also tackling the aerial photo/ video documentation/ storytelling. I've been flying drones for over 7 years and I am a commercially licensed UAV pilot. I've always been fascinated by the natural world, spending great amounts of time in nature and working in gardens and on farms. Exploring the intersection of technology and nature, the precise and the organic, is the focus of my work.
Including others in the process is one of my goals. It feels good to be able to support other artists with my work and I like getting inspired and feeling part of the local creative community. I also travel to far off places for commissioned projects where I get to connect with other cultures in a shared appreciation for the process. I originally picked up the drone as a way of contributing to the family business, supporting my fathers land art career and food brand. Now that I have acquired the photography and land art skills I continue to help my dad, recently managing a project in Abu Dhabi where I worked with a team of 70 guys for a month to build sand sculptures from a few feet to 88 feet tall. I also documented with the drone and edited several videos. It was an amazing trip but I was happy to get back to my own career. It's exciting to make up my own story and find my own way and decide what I want to communicate through my work.
I really hit my stride in 2023 when I created a series of positive messages in the midst of the destructive storms. Just like how in 2020/ 21 the sand drawings provided me personally with a sense of meaning during a difficult time, once again I was out there feeling lighter as I danced across the sand, rake in hand, And through my photography and videos I can share these temporary environments, and capture moments that will hopefully have a positive. As a second generation sand artist I plan on keeping a good thing going, and I know I've inspired several people to head out to the beach and make their mark."