BRIAN MAHIEU - oil painter

Explorations of the North Olympic Coast and the Hoh Rainforest are the primary subject of Brian Mahieu’s paintings at the gallery. While working for many years as a plein-air painter, Mahieu has now added studio work to his repertoire. Working in bold, assertive strokes and intense color Brian views his paintings as the esthetic records of a moment in time and place.


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Mahieu states “Nature is my studio. My paintings are not merely pictures, they are visual poems about what I was experiencing. Color and expressive brushwork communicate mood, and the paint surface is a landscape of its own. For over three decades I have signed my plein-air paintings with the date and time of completion in the field. This past year I’ve been working very hard—I’m stretching and growing as an artist, transitioning from working exclusively plein-air to painting in a studio.” 

Brian Mahieu grew up in the Midwest, received a BFA from Columbia College in 1989 and immediately opened his first studio-gallery. Ultimately owning or operating five galleries in his career. He lived in Paris in 1987 and a visit to Giverny set the direction for his plein air works of the next thirty years. Exhibiting nationally in New York, Carmel, St Louis, Santa Cruz, Whidbey Island and more, his paintings are in public and private collections throughout the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia, including the Contemporary Artist collection of the State Historical Society of Missouri, and the Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri. 

“Brian Mahieu’s landscapes are stunning and haunting, and they capture the ethereal effects of atmosphere and changing light at twilight. . . . his work speaks to the human condition and universal experiences that viewers from diverse backgrounds can comprehend.” 

Alisa M. Carlson, Ph.D.
Curator of European and American Art, Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri 

“His visions have a poignant and sometimes somber “poetry of place” that appeals to the tendency to associate the rhythms of the natural environment with the rhythms of human life.” 

Joan Stack, Ph.D
Curator of Art Collections The State Historical Society of Missouri 

If you have questions about Brian Mahieu’s work,
please contact the gallery at 360-222-3070 or 800-858-5063