About the Artist
Brian Suryah (b. Baltimore 1996) is a Baltimore-based transdisciplinary artist whose work explores the power of practice through the use of ritual, art and design to explore ancestral veneration, ethnobotany, collective liberation, diasporic anthropology and cultural archiving. The direction of Brian’s work is a direct response to an upbringing that lacked cultural context and a disconnection from the people and places that brought them to their place in the present. Through this work, Brian’s mission is to understand and honor the past while simultaneously recontextualizing that research and technology for a contemporary practice.
Brian Suryah is an object, ritual, and pigment-centered transdisciplinary artist exploring the intersections of imagination, form, and ancestral technology using the brand Suryah Studio to present their work publicly. Brian’s work outside their transdisciplinary practice focuses on collaborative efforts with regional branding, civic engagement, and social impact initiatives using human-centered design to better understand and nurture themself, their community, and the spaces and places we share collectively.
Brian is drawn to history, rhythm, geometric shapes, iconography, and illustrative elements that make space for personal introspection, welcoming participants to use their work as a means of better understanding themselves and their unique position in the world around them. Brian wants to create moments that can hopefully disarm unconscious biases and projections, facilitating a deeper, more expansive dialogue between the tangible and intangible self.
Brian’s interest in art and design first peaked around 2009 when the opportunity presented itself for them to apply for a visual arts magnet program in Baltimore County Public Schools. During Brian’s time in that program, they began the first iteration of Suryah Studio in 2012 at the age of 15 with four murals in Sparrows Point Country Club. The success of navigating that project completely by themselves gave them the confidence to pursue the career in art design they have today.
Notable projects in Brian’s career include the creative direction of an independent regional brand program called The Combine (2018 - 2019) which was an incubator for 17 local fashion brands in Baltimore City, brand activation and ambassadorships with Pabst Blue Ribbon (2018 - 2019), National Bohemian (2018 - 2019), Jagermeister (2019), and Redbull (2017 - 2019). Fashion styling and branding projects with Clear Weather (2019), The Hundreds (2018), Farfetch (2019) and Publish (2018). Curatiatory projects for the American Craft Council (2020), art installations during Baltimore’s Artscape Festival (2023), and various murals and private painting commissions with local galleries, corporate, and institutional clients.
Artist's Statement
Brian is drawn to history, rhythm, geometric shapes, iconography, and illustrative elements that make space for personal introspection, welcoming participants to use their work as a means of better understanding themselves and their unique position in the world around them. Brian wants to create moments that can hopefully disarm unconscious biases and projections, facilitating a deeper, more expansive dialogue between the tangible and intangible self.
