Brock Elam

I've always felt that there were two types of people in the world: the kind that approach life in a logical manner and the kind that follow their talents. For many years I took the logical path. It is only recently that I have come to realize that life is about utilizing the talents we were each born with. I’m still working on this, obviously, but I think most people live out a life without knowing what their talents are.
I didn't want to do that any longer.

For me the process of painting – at its best – is observing solitude. It is being at the perfect body temperature in a sacred place surrounded by mule deer during the full moon, or running long distances in the mountains ‘til your legs feel broken and loving it. It is the allure of evening light and low hanging clouds. It is the ocean and flying, the smell of fresh campfire, sage, and Hoppes No. 9. It is the seasonal spices of the river bottom, the sound of snow under skis and boots, the gulp of a trout upstream, the wind through the pines. And when I put my trust in the old alchemy of oil paint and turpentine, when I get out of the way, I sometimes turn craft into art.

And now for the part of the bio where I speak in third person. 

Brock Elam was born in Bruges, Belgium in 1968 (that’s not true,
Brock was born in Los Angeles, CA.) He received his MFA from the Royal Academy of Arts in 1995 (this is a lie; he is a proud, half-fanatic, self-taught painter). Brock has exhibited in the US and abroad including shows at C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore, Randall Scott Gallery in Washington DC, and The Center for Art and Culture in France. His work has been reviewed in ARTnews, The Washington Post, and featured in New American Paintings Magazine (this is completely inaccurate; he’s only had a few public and private showings. Ridiculous).  Through the dichotomy of routine randomness, Brock fills in spaces of light with even lighter color to make objects that aren’t there. Brock lives a private Luddite life outside of Lillehammer, Norway.