Brian Floats (b. 1984)

Brian’s artistic journey began as a toddler drawing all over discarded Pentagon procurement receipts—crayons in fists—producing mixed media collaborations between a 3 year old boy and the limitless defense budget of the Reagan era. In the late 90’s, blue-haired and thrift store fashioned, he was the kind of fifteen year old who put on football pads on a Friday night and gigged on saxophone by Saturday, performing at Bay Area bars and house parties alongside his older brother’s funk metal band. At 17 one of his paintings earned a coveted spot in the gallery window of a county wide youth exhibition. College found him double-majoring in Studio Art and Philosophy while leading monthly art collective exhibitions and gigging with his brother and Pitzer College friends in a new band all over Hollywood.

Brian’s musical pursuits paralleled his visual art development, having the opportunity in the early 2000’s to open for hip-hop luminaries like KRS-One, De La Soul, and Ghostface Killah. His early art world reconnaissance was informed by summers as an intern at his local Arts Council and the Headlands Center for the Arts. A Los Angeles-based fine art handler, his white-gloved hands cared for artworks by Picasso, Basquiat, and Kusama, orchestrating their journeys between world-class museums, private collections, and storage. On any given day he could be found retrieving work from artist studios or installing artwork in the private residences of patrons like Jay-Z and Beyoncé.

A chance 2014 introduction connected Brian with installation artist Patrick Shearn of Poetic Kinetics, initiating him into large-scale fabrication work with “Fire in Balance” at Burning Man. A portfolio review then became the launchpad to an eight-month artist residency and exhibition in Beijing. While in China, Brian debuted the trampoline-assisted aerial painting explorations that would become his signature. The 2015 Beijing Performance Art Festival hosted his inaugural float painting performance, leading to studio visits from curators Klaus Biesenbach and Michael Xufu Huang, and culminating in a 10,000-square-foot exhibition at the Si Shang Art Museum.

Back in Los Angeles, Brian secured a residency at Budman Studios in Venice Beach — a legendary 25-year-old warehouse that has hosted, among a long list, JR, Yoshitomo Nara, and Takashi Murakami. His float painting installation evolved into a local phenomenon: approximately 150 performances, collaborations with Sony and Birkenstock, and sponsored events with June Shine, Liquid Death, and Flying Embers. His performances also landed him in a YouTube collaboration with Airrack that has since garnered over 18 million views.

His practice has been featured in several short documentaries, including Brian Floats by Sundoc Studios, which toured the film festival circuit in Brooklyn, San Diego, and Newport Beach. Now a father, Brian’s art continues to explore the edges of performance, painting, mixed media, and digital photography — conceived on military receipts, refined through global travels, and floating playfully between disciplines.