Her exacting and surreal graphite renderings give a glimpse into a private and often painful world. Like Pierce's sculptures, these drawings capture a stilled moment. They are like sepia-toned photographs, inherently forlorn and nostalgic. Subterfuge depicts a windblown leaf snagged by a branch. The landscape in which the leaf blows is parched, desolate and cracked.
Time stops at the moment the leaf's journey is stalled by the obstacle.
Brandau's craft is an asset in the graphite drawings, but in the few paintings, which are newer, it actually does the work a disservice. The graphite's smoky chiaroscuro of gun-metal tones adds depth to her illustrative renderings. But in the paintings, the light and dark is gone, and the color is too confectionary and hard-edged. In time, perhaps, they will take on the same depth of shadow as exists in the drawings. The drawings are absolutely compelling, small poems in and of themselves.