Artists Support

Brian Calvin's commission for the Metropolitan Opera, 2018

The Metropolitan Opera invited Brian Calvin to create a show of work on the occasion of the company’s new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. “Mozart’s opera has such whimsy and humor—along with darker undercurrents,” says Gallery Met Director Dodie Kazanjian, “and Brian, with his vibrant, psychologically astute portraits, is the perfect fit.” Calvin found inspiration in the opera’s dual pairs of lovers, who don disguises to blur the lines of identity.

We spoke to Juna Rosales Muller about how PFSP teaches California youth to protect their health and their planet.

ARTISTS SUPPORT We're going to start with the most important question. Why are pesticides so bad for us and for our planet?

JUNA ROSALES MULLER There are different kinds of pesticides: organic pesticides, which are less harmful, and toxic pesticides that are really bad for you. Many pesticides allowed in the US are some of the worst ones for your health. California-based studies found that living near pesticide spraying is linked to harm to the respiratory system, increased risk of cancer and harm to the developing child, such as low birth weight and reduced IQ.

A great difficulty is that pesticide exposure as a cause of disease is really hard to prove, but the linkages are clear. Of the top 10 pesticides most commonly used near schools in California, all have been linked to at least one harmful impact on children's health or development — from cancer to reproductive system harms, from IQ loss to neurodevelopment delays.

AS Who is most at risk from pesticide exposure in Ventura County where The Pesticide Free Soil Project is active?

JRM Farm workers and their families. Those who apply pesticides and those working in the fields that use, or are nearby to places that use pesticides, are in the most vulnerable position with regards to their health. In Ventura County there are over 20,000 farm worker families. Those of us who live, work, or go to school near fields are also impacted by pesticide drift-which is when pesticides end up somewhere that they weren't meant to go, either through water, wind, and sometimes soil–and by the food we eat. Many of the pesticides that are approved in the US are banned in Europe.

AS Ok. Let’s take a step back. The Pesticide Free Soil Project lives under an umbrella organization called the Encampment.

JRM The Encampment for Citizenship brings together young people aged 15-18 of different ethnic, religious, gender preference, geographic, and economic backgrounds in a summer intensive with year-round follow-up. We provide youth with an experience in democratic living where they meet peers from around the U.S. (and beyond) and share the social justice struggles in their communities. They meet with local and national activists and learn tools and strategies to make change and join an intergenerational community focused on social justice activism.

AS How did the Pesticide Free Soil Project come to be?

JRM It was a community service project at the 2019 summer program that grew into a year-round internship with local youth. The project works on campus policies to build good soil, eliminate toxic pesticides and nurture the links between human and ecological health. We use an alternative to pesticides called “compost tea” which is a mixture of compost and water to treat school campuses. Through the project, students learn about soil microorganisms, the importance of healthy soil for reducing carbon, and helping to reverse climate change – while reducing the need for toxic pesticides. Students also learn about the impacts of pesticide use on human and environmental health through the arts. We work with high school and college aged youth who then become the teachers for elementary aged students.

Many of the schools where we work are surrounded by agricultural fields and many people's homes and workplaces also are adjacent to agriculture. There are regulations, but lots of people in the policy world of Pesticide Regulation are fighting for greater buffer zones around schools.

Brian Calvin is represented by Corbett vs. Dempsey, Corvi-Mora, Anton Kern and Almine Rech

AS So who decides where pesticides can and can’t be used?

JRM The most difficult issue we have is something called the Pesticide Preemption Law, which means that local communities cannot make rules that are stricter than the state rules because of lobbying by the agricultural industry. The industry is a huge employer here and has such an economic impact that it just has so much power. Our approach has been to focus not on changing the rules within the agricultural sector, but on education and on working with public schools, because we feel that there's leverage there.

Brian Calvin's painting Fiore [Flower] (2023) was included in The Echo of Picasso at the Museo Picasso Málaga

Organized within the framework of the international celebrations marking the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) and curated by Éric Troncy, The Echo of Picasso related Picasso’s oeuvre to that of contemporary artists who, in one way or another, have made or are making its echo resound.

AS And how do kids take to your teachings and messaging?

JRM If young people grow up with hope and with an idea of the alternatives to pesticides, then they grow up with the vocabulary and the ability to make changes as they get older. We work with high school and college age students through our internship program. It's a wonderful time in their lives to get excited about something because adults are telling them that it's up to their generation to fix everything. There's so much climate grief and a general air of hopelessness – but through the internship, they get to be part of working for change.

AS Do you have enough data at this stage to know if climate justice remains a part of the students’ life after being involved in your project?

JRM We have some youth who began in 2019 who are still working with us, which is wonderful. One student who's been involved for five years was going to be a teacher but she's decided to study agriculture instead. Another one of our former participants is involved in a project collecting data on farm worker health, specifically focusing on pesticides impact.

AS How do you receive your funding?

JRM We're funded entirely by small grants and individual donations. Brian’s $30,000 artwork donation will make a huge difference in PFSP being able to do our work with interns and the community. So it would be game changing!

ASFinally, how do you see the organization growing?

JRM We've been working on doing these compost tea parties at every school within our local School District. Our hope is to work more on the maintenance of some of those sites and the vision is to have schools where you have edible schoolyards and non-toxic fields and playgrounds. Ventura County is in the top 5% of schools with the most pesticide exposure in the state. Latino schoolchildren in California are nearly twice as likely to attend the most impacted schools as their white peers. A big goal for us is to institutionalize what we're doing so that we can improve these realities and continue to empower young people to make positive change in their communities.

Brian Calvin's Still, Palazzo Cavanis, Venice

Still, was presented in Almine Rech's Venice gallery space. This was the first time Calvin exhibited work in Venice and his sixth solo show with the Almine Rech, who represents him alongside Corvi-Mora and Anton Kern.

When an Italian Medievalist met a California colorist.

From a sunlit studio in California, contemporary artist Brian Calvin continues to explore the nuances of flatness, color and minimalism in his captivating portraits. Known for their elongated figures and vibrant palettes, Calvin's works suggest a timelessness that bridges the gap between historical art forms and modern sensibilities.

As an art historian specializing in 12th and 13th-century religious architecture and Byzantine icons, I was interested in how Calvin's work parallels the flatness and spiritual presence found in medieval art.

In Byzantine mosaics like the portraits of Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, flatness is essential. Here flatness conveys eternal power and presence, eschews physical space and focuses on the divine. ‘’I was always drawn to work that was flat,“ Calvin told me. He was a student in the early 1990s at the University of California, Berkeley and went on to earn his MFA from The Art Institute of Chicago. ‘’When I first encountered artists like Giotto and Piero della Francesca, their work felt incredibly modern to me. There was an immediacy and a resonance that I didn't find in later, more realistic art.“ For Calvin, flatness is a way to strip away the non-essential and focus on the core of his subjects. By removing physical space and narrative elements, the figure becomes more emotionally charged and allows for a deeper connection.

Calvin's portraits are predominantly of women rendered with a simplicity that invites contemplation. I asked how the absence of defined space in his paintings relates to a commentary on gender and identity, or societal roles. ‘’Gender is significant in my work, but not in a consciously overt way,“ he noted. ‘’I'm curious about the underlying themes without trying to make a specific statement. It's more about exploring identity and presence in a universal sense.“

His recent work Sea Sisters (2024) is being sold to support The Pesticide Free Soil Project (PFSP), an environmental justice group in California fighting for cleaner soil. Calvin lives in Ojai, a small agricultural town northwest of Los Angeles and was raised in an agricultural family. It is PFSP’s commitment to teaching young people and inspiring them to advocate for better soil conditions that drew him to the organization.

Sea Sisters depicts two faces merging into one, evoking the duality symbolized by the Roman god Janus. When I shared this interpretation and expanded it through psychoanalytic concepts of a divided self, Calvin smiled thoughtfully. ‘’I wasn't consciously thinking about Janus or psychoanalysis when I painted it, but those themes resonate with me. Sometimes, the subconscious guides the creative process in ways we don't immediately realize.“

Although he has never been to Rome, he has visited Fra Angelico’s frescoes at the Convent of San Marco, in Florence as well as Giotto’s mural cycle at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua which he said “just kind of shattered my brain.” Given my background in medieval art, I was intrigued by the spiritual undertones in Calvin's work. While his portraits are secular, they evoke a sense of contemplation akin to that required of religious icons. ‘’I'm fascinated by the otherworldly quality in the works of artists like Fra Angelico,“ he said. ‘’Their ability to create images that feel both of their time and timeless is something I aspire to. There's a universality in trying to express something ineffable through art.“ Calvin's paintings, with their minimalistic approach and focus on the figure, open a space through which viewers may project intimate narratives and unique interpretations. ‘’I want people to engage with the work on their own terms,“ he added. ‘’By reducing elements to their essence, the paintings become a mirror for personal reflection.“

Calvin's artistic journey is marked by a continuous exploration of familiar themes that have evolved organically over time. ‘’I've been painting for over 35 years,“ he reflected. "At this point, many things aren't consciously thought out. I let my brain forget and reapproach a finished painting with curiosity." This iterative process has enabled him to plunge deeper into his subjects. ‘’Sometimes I wonder why I'm still painting similar images,“ he confessed. ‘’But there's so much more satisfaction and curiosity in letting these things slowly mutate. It feels like a deepening of my practice.“

While rooted in contemporary artistic ideas, his portraits project echoes of the past and thus invite viewers into a timeless dialogue. ‘’In the end, it's about connecting,“ he said. ‘’Whether it's through flatness, color or the absence of space, I hope my work offers a moment of reflection and engagement.“ Calvin's commitment to exploring these essential elements of visual expression make his work both immediately accessible and richly layered. By bridging historical artistic principles with contemporary techniques, Calvin creates portraits that are as intriguing as they are timeless: they are a testament to the enduring power of art to resonate across cultures and eras.

Brian Calvin, End of Messages, at Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium

Brian Calvin's exhibition End of Messages was on view in Belgium before traveling to Le Consortium in Dijon. End of Messages illustrated Calvin’s mastery of framing and color through portrait and landscape paintings from 1995 to 2015. The exhibition was curated by Eric Troncy.