Brooke Shaden
I know very little about Brooke Shaden accept that her work, though similar to that of Isabelle van zeijl, is driven not by a disturbed past, but by a mind eager to explore her dreams & the wandering of her imagination as a child. Where Zeijl appears to be running from her past, Shaden is embracing and exploring her past. Shaden uses herself as subject, model and photographer. It could be argued that this is not self portraiture, rather that she is modelling for herself! I think however, she is using material and ideas that have come from within her own self, albeit as a child, and is recreating them through the digital medium. In a way she is taking up from where she left off as a child, taking the dreams and products of her child play, and running with them, trying to organically develop these characters, se where they go and what they become.
Of all of these artists I think Shaden is the least narcissistic of all. In a way she is along for the ride, seeing where things take her, rather than trying to specifically express or portray. The core values and starting points of all of her work is rooted in child dreams and imaginings. I also feel that all of her images can be understood with limited knowledge of what has gone before. Even without foreknowledge it is clear to see the dreamlike qualities of her work. Yes a lot of it is dark, and some of it is disturbing, but not exclusively.
More often than not her go-to format is square. This I think fits nicely with the content being ‘of dreams’. The viewing of a square image is much less structured than that of a rectangular image. Also, as is often the way with Shaden’s work, the negative space brings so much more to the image, and this works very well within a square. Negative space in Shaden’s work really helps, or is maybe even the cornerstone of what gives her work mood or atmosphere.
Interestingly, one of the key things that drives her is her passion to pass on her enthusiasm to others, to encourage others to take up the baton and run!
I see! 