About Me

Biography and Academic Qualification

Brindley was born in Pretoria on 20 October 1967 as the youngest son of sculptor Tienie Prithchard. He grew up close to the Hartebeestpoort Dam and attended the Pretoria School of Art, Ballet and Music (Pro Arte) from 1981 to 1986. He qualified from Pretoria Technikon with a National Diploma Graphic Design in 1990 and took part in an exhibition of student work as part requirement for this qualification.

Philosophy

Brindley sees himself as a contemporary realist exploring various themes, among others, working with figures in interiors, landscapes and portraiture. He draws his inspiration from creating an exceptional and unique mood in each painting. He strives to provide an enriching experience for everyone who comes in contact with his work. The quality of his work is the result of being loyal to his creative vision.

Exhibitions, Work on Regular Display and Career Highlights

1996: Mullerie Taljaard Gallery, Johannesburg – group exhibition
1998: Karin de Goede Gallery, Pretoria – group exhibition
2006: Clearspace Arhitects, Brooklyn, Pretoria – group exhibition
2 November 2006 Lionel Smit gallery.'feat' group exhibition. (Pretoria)
24 March 2007 Crake gallery annual group exhibition. (Johannesburg, Norwood)
10 March 2008 Crake gallery annual group exhibiton.
21 March 2008 i-Art Muse 08 KKnK arts festival.group exhibition(Outshoorn).
8 April 2008 i-Art Muse 08 Cape Town. group exhibiton.
September 2008 Group exhibition. "Refeul and Reflect" exhibition at the
Pretoria Art Assosiation. In celebration of the 60th birthday of the
Pretoria Art Assosiation.
A profile on Brindleys artwork was done on the magazine programe 'Pasella" on South African television early February 2009.
Celebrating the 60th Birthday of the Pretoria Assosiation of Art.
August 2009 AVA (assosiation of visual art) Cape Town Group exhibition.
August 2009 ' if I was a girl" Group exhibition Magpie Gallery Irene,Centurion. Pretoria. Celebrating womans day.
IS Art at le quartier francais: Group exhibition of South African artists: 11 June - 15 July 2010.
Participated in the BP Portrait Awards in London in 2011.
Camden Art Gallery in London - International. Group Exhibition. 2nd June - 22nd June 2011.
Group Exhibition: Galerie 64 in France 9 July - 9 Sptember 2011.
Exhibition in Stellenbosch at Oude Libertas Kuns Galery 14 September 2011.

Brindley’s work has also been on regular display at the Henry Taylor Gallery, (1996 – 2000), The Palace of the Lost City, Sun City Complex (1998 – 2000), the Globe Galley, Pretoria (1999 - 2000), the Sandton Gallery, Sandton (2001 – 2002), the Chris Tugwell Gallery, Kosmos, Hartebeestpoort Dam (2002 – 2003), the Voir Gallery, Pretoria and the Louise Boshoff Gallery, Hartebeestpoort Dam (2002 – 2005).

He received commissions for a number of murals from 1993 to 1995 while producing work for his first group exhibition. He worked as a prop artist on the movie set of the film Merlin in 1998, worked as portrait artist for the American Embassy and British High Commission from 2000 to 2002 and executed a commission to paint a ceiling dome for an Indonesian palace during 2001 to 2002.

In 2004 Brindley received a large private sponsorship to work for two years on a collection of work of his own choice. During this period his artistic expression matured significantly. He relocated to Johannesburg early in 2007. He is currently living in Cape Town.

Brindley’s work is currently represented by the Crake Gallery, Norwood, (011 728 3643); the Chérie de Villiers Gallery, Rosebank, (011 788 9949); Art.co.za.

More on Brindley Pritchard

The greatest influence that I had was growing up in the house of a realism sculptor.

Looking at sculptures of figures was everyday to me. I then was sent to art school after my father started noting that I was spending a lot of my free time drawing by myself.

I learned to paint at high school. I also took painting at Technicon for 2 years,while I studied graphic design.

Even from a young age I knew what I wanted to paint. For one, I did not want to paint typical young boy paintings, I wanted the work to be timeless.

Interestingly I did not have any interest ever to make sculptures. I did though have a love for realism.

Realism was the medium that warmed to me, as the artists that inspired me was from that genre. Painting to me is really just a natural thing and I do it as if I am pre-destined to do it. Music came to me in the same way, its like a little Jack Russel that just effortlessly follows me around.

The thing that I like to explore in my work is the vastness of scope that I feel in realism that has not been explored yet, as people do not look hard enough. I do not believe in cheap tickets to success, like stirring deliberate controversy.

I talk of realism so freely now and yet, I find that my work is slowly becoming more loose, in my brush stroke and in the way I put a piece together. Maybe the work is aiming towards an impressionistic feel, but I do not think it will ever loose the realism genre completely. I am chasing life, more life, and that is logically less forced, more said in fewer brush strokes.

I paint people because I am good at it. I love female beauty, I love feminine grace. What I also enjoy is the different atmospheres that one can capture in different interior spaces.

Portraying the simple pleasures of life in an unusual way in a setting that reflects our everyday casual culture. That is what I paint. When I paint I try to paint the emotion of any given object, be that a piece of cloth or a human being.

Work that moved me, has never been something with a long explanation and with intricate symbolism.

I am simple guy and I like simple things. If an artwork speaks to me and stirs my soul it is normally something with an eternal quality. This is what turned me into a painter, walking up to a painting and with nothing said or written, I am being so fulfilled and moved by it. For anybody to be able to create that is simply magical. That enrichment of my soul is all I need. My ultimate goal is that I can create work that would do that for others.

The part that I love about my work is to see the reflection my paintings have been having on my immediate life, also personal life. Life always amazes me in this way. We as people do not really want to know that our subconscious minds are really the weight behind the momentum of our actions. I so then see that my work actually carries symbolisms and meanings that was naively placed there by my wants and needs, sans pretense. I feel good about that as that shows that I am truthful to myself and my life. Well I am not good at being something I am not.

I do not think that there should be labels and isms, and through that, we should all embrace diversity, thats what makes the world go round.

My artwork is a reflection of me, the truth of me, I do like it that my work stands alone in a gallery and that there is an individuality to it, to me that is important.

I really feel that I have been only learning to paint up to now. I have merely been laying the foundations. I get excited like a child, looking ahead to all the work that I am still to produce. The learning process will only end, the day I die..

Importantly I would also like to share the fact that I am in a major growth phase. I would not want people to label me and put me in any sort of box. The work of mine that you see on my site or in the galleries, is just a taste of something. It is a mere reflection of places and situations and phases of life, and work, I was in at the time. My old work is to me very naive and just a good measure of where I come from.

I carry an eagerness inside my mind of what is yet to come in my work, and I have a fair idea of what that might be. All I can tell you is that I keep my doors wide open for my work to surprise me with new turns and phases to come and color and excite my reason for existence.

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