When Malcolm Bryan was in art school in the 60s working toward a BFA at Colorado University, his art professors instilled in the students a non-too-subtle message about the marketable value of their talent: "You will have three choices: become a commercial illustrator, teach, or starve". Choosing to work in the business sector instead, it would be another 20 years before Bryan reconnected with the artistic talent and passion that had earned him national awards in high school.

At the age of 45, he refined his technical skills with the encouragement of several accomplished landscape painters, painted prolifically, and immersed himself in looking at, reading, and thinking about art. He drew upon the passion and drama of the Dutch Old Masters use of the chiaroscuro technique, which features small areas of intense light set against vast darkness, as the basis for his own work.

In choosing his subjects, Malcolm Bryan finds grace not in the single perfect rose but in the moments after perfection when the petals have fallen onto the table. Similarly, well-worn objects - copper vessels, old pottery, antique vases and rugs attract his attention and convey a gentle sense of passing time.

I try to create a world most people would enjoy and identify with. No matter where people live or what our environment, we look at tiny still lifes all the time. We see arrangements of objects in our own world. "What I really like to capture is some element of passion, something that is missing in our everyday life... a glimpse of beauty that is intense, believable, and sticks in your mind."