Today we’d like to introduce you to Brent Sanders.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up aspiring to be a cartoonist and was heavily influenced by skate culture as a young teenager. I later attended Chattanooga State, where I studied graphic design, before going to work for Micro Sports, a local PC-based gaming company. As an assistant art director, my projects included game graphics, user interface design, and packaging.
During those five years, I began painting street scenes of Chattanooga in a loose, gestural style. A small local gallery began representing my work, and I soon started selling paintings on a consistent basis. That early success ultimately led me to pursue painting as a career.
For the past 26 years, my wife, Renae, and I have operated a studio and gallery dedicated to my work. Our current location is at 400 East Main Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Early influences on my work included artists such as Philip Burke, Terry Cannon, Stephen Quiller, André Derain, and Franz Marc. I worked primarily in watercolor for the first several years of my career before transitioning to acrylic, which remains my primary medium today.
My earliest paintings focused largely on my hometown of Chattanooga, but over the past two decades, my work has expanded into a visual record of the places I’ve experienced through travel. Subjects have included New York, Chicago, Mexico, Germany, Costa Rica, Barbados, and, most recently, a series inspired by Big Sur, California.
At the heart of my work is the idea of visually expressing energy through color and line—exploring how that energy moves through a place and interacts with its surroundings. Rather than simply documenting a location, I’m interested in capturing its movement, rhythm, atmosphere, and sense of life.
I am currently represented by Red Door Gallery in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Art on the Square in Bentonville, Arkansas. My personal studio and gallery is located at 400 East Main Street in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s gotten smoother over the last decade or so, but it is always a challenging business to navigate.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a painter specializing in bright, colorful, energetic work centered primarily on urban and rural landscapes. Over the years, I’ve committed myself to developing a style that has been allowed to grow and evolve naturally into what I feel is a distinctly personal visual voice—one that reflects not only how I see my surroundings, but how I experience their energy, movement, and character.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
You really have to be deliberate about your efforts on expanding your work, find your market, and be actively seeking opportunities that can expand your career.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://BRENTSANDERS.COM
- Instagram: @brentsandersart
- Facebook: Brent Sanders Studios / Michael Brent Sanders
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-sanders-591993a
