Tortured a
nd battered faces; rose tattoos and cigarettes dangling loosely from lips, these are the lasses of American artist, Brian M. Viveros. His works explore the murkier realms and his dark, mysterious women – reminiscent of Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin’s Tank Girl –which have become his trademark. They gaze laconically beyond the viewer, their deep, sensual eyes almost drooping closed. Despite their battered faces, they somehow still possess a powerful sense of strength and sexual prowess.
Brian’s art is considered as an erotic cross between the pin-up girls of the forties and the renderings of French surrealist, Hans Bellmer. His works focus on the suffering of women and some have called them nothing more than an unusual worldview or possibly a genetic abnormality on Brian’s part. Punk photographer and archivist Jenny Lens, who shot U.S. band Darby Crash, finds Brian’s work appealing, especially the women’s defiant looks. “I don’t know why I am attracted to his paintings of tattooed and beaten women, but they have such a defiant look,” she explained. “Their Louise Brooks and Pandora’s Box black helmet hair, cigs dangling from their mouths and swollen shut eyes – it is so erotic and powerful. It’s about us women who get beaten up every day”.
Brian has held exhibitions throughout the States and Europe and his popularity continues to rise. In 1997 he participated in The Art of Porn exhibition in Switzerland and since then has appeared in several magazines such as Secret Magazine, In the Flesh and Skin Two. In 2004 he received a nomination for Artist of the Year in the UK’s Erotic Awards. Brian’s love for dark art does not end in painting; he’s also a movie maker. He has shot short films, Shorts and Southern, which are continuations of his paintings, as well as Dislandia.
In an interview, Brian described his love for filmmaking as another tool he uses to express his ideas. “Film is something I’m really passionate about and will continue to do until the day I die”, said Brian. “Sometimes painting just isn’t enough, there are always ideas and dreams that need to get out of this fucked up head of mine and this is just another way of expressing them.”
