About
Artist Statement:
Fake fur "paintings"
For years I’ve explored collage in my drawings and paintings with various kitschy materials like fake fur, costume fabrics, flocking, tissue paper, and more. Only recently, did I start using fake fur by itself as a ground of sorts. By shaving long nap fur and thus “drawing” lines and shapes with the base color revealed beneath, I created various minimalist “paintings”. Large scale is necessary for these works as their size suggests some sort of authority or seriousness while the medium of fake fur conveys fun and absurdity. They seem to spoof formal geometric painting perhaps. Not that I specifically focus on satirizing minimalism or exploiting kitsch, but more perhaps on captivating irony and entertaining goofiness, “majestic goofiness”, as a fellow artist once described my work. As much as I enjoy making these “paintings”, for the viewer they are meant to be easily accessible -- sensually more than analytically. I aim at cross-stimulating the senses of vision and touch. Whether a viewer actually touches my fur paintings (which I encourage, and children enjoy), their tactile quality is very much part of the stimuli. I associate fake fur with stuffed animals, more than with kitsch or decorative costume material. As my works are objects to hang on a wall and not to cuddle, there is though kind of wistful character to them. The stretched fur is like a stuffed animal character. I remember long ago walking down 5th Avenue in New York after birthday shopping at FAO Schwartz with my 7-year-old daughter -- I carried her enormous, big-as-a-baby-elephant, stuffed puppy over my shoulders while holding her hand, both of us so happy -- Every person we passed looked at us and could not help but smile. This is how I hope people respond to my art.
Artist Bio:
Greg Brown grew up in California and Nevada in the 60’s and 70’s. With ten siblings he had a very lively childhood, full of creative play and adventure. Dr. Seuss and Babar the Elephant were early influences on his imagination. In his teens, he was fascinated with Rene Magritte and R. Crumb. He painted surrealistic still-life’s and drew Fritz the Cat characters. Dr. Seuss-like characters and landscapes appeared later in his painting style.
Brown graduated from USC School of Cinema focusing on animation and film editing. Shortly afterwards, fine art became his main focus when seeing Mark Rothko, Philip Guston, and Robert Rauschenberg retrospectives. He returned to school and graduated in Fine Arts from the Art Center of Design in Pasadena. He worked as a scenic artist at ABC-TV and other studios in Hollywood, painting sets and backdrops for sitcoms and many awards shows like the Grammys, American Music Awards and Muppet Specials. A perk of working at the studios was art supplies scavenged from show leftovers – wall flats and backdrop muslin, paint, glitter, mylar, and other decorative materials. He also found unusual art-making materials from the Lockheed aircraft factory scrapyard as well as from the Los Angeles fabric and notions district. In 1983 Brown was commissioned to do a dozen Rauschenberg-like paintings for an ABC Circle Films detective movie about a famous artist. At the same time, his own collage paintings became more tactile with fake fur and flocking when volunteering at the Braille Institute. Early success out of art school occurred when he sold his Big Bee painting to the Pasadena art collector Robert Rowan. This led to inclusion in a group show at the Rosamund Felsen gallery and meeting many LA artists.
Brown relocated to New York in 1986, initially to work on the Statue of Liberty Centennial extravaganza and then other scenic work. He became an artist assistant for a few years, while continuing to develop his own work. He had his first solo show in New York City at White Columns in 1993. In 1995 he attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture where his creative work ethic and practice intensified. He returned to Skowhegan for two more summers hired to setup a video and multimedia lab. Later, after living in CT for a few years, personal, family, and financial matters led to a long hibernation from painting. In 2016, Brown built a new art studio and revived his passion and daily painting activity. In the past four years, Brown has shown in a dozen group exhibits and a few solo shows. Recent shows in NYC in 2020 include a solo show at The Yard as well as participating at the 2020 Spring/Break Show.
Education
• Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
• Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
• University of Southern California, Cinema Production
Art Fairs
• 2020 Spring Break Art Show, New York, NY
Curator and Exhibitor
Solo Exhibits
• 2019 - 2020 Warm and Fuzzy Feeling, curated by Akeem K. Duncan, The Yard - Flatiron South location, New York, NY
• 2018 The Beginning of the Universe and Other Things,
Lichtundfire Gallery, New York, NY
• 1993 White Room: Greg Brown, White Columns, New York, NY
Two Person Exhibits
• 2020 Greg Brown and Jonathan Bauch
Carter Burden Gallery, New York, NY
• 2018 Greg Brown and Howard Nathenson,
Carter Burden Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
• 2020
• Feelin' Loopy, Treat Gallery, (online), New York, NY
• Satellite of Love, The Royal Society of American Art (RSOAA), (online), New York, NY
• 2019
• Cold, Carter Burden Gallery, New York, NY
• Small Works, Carter Burden Gallery, New York, NY
• 2018
• Small Works, Carter Burden Gallery, New York, NY
• Color High & Raw Emotions, Lichtundfire Gallery, New York, NY
• Encore, Lichtundfire Gallery, New York, NY
• Love Fest, Lichtundfire Gallery, New York, NY
• Past as Prologue, Lichtundfire Gallery, New York, NY
• 2017
• Apocalypse Yesterday/Tomorrow, Lichtundfire Gallery, New York, NY
• Bound By Matter, Lichtundfire Gallery, New York, NY
• Summer Sex II, Lichtundfire Gallery, New York, NY
• 1993 Update 1993, White Columns, New York, NY
• 1990 Work on Paper, curated by Randy Alexander, Paula Allen Gallery, New York, NY
• 1985 Farewell to the Bridal District, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, CA
• 1983 Group Exhibition, Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Bibliography
• 2020 Art Maze Mag, Winter Issue 16, Curated Selection by Scott Ogden, founder and curator of Shrine Gallery, NYC
• 2020 Quiet Lunch Magazine, That Warm, Fuzzy Feeling. . . , Akeem K. Duncan, Founder/Editor
• 2017 The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Lichtundfire Gallery, Catalog essay by Jonathan Goodman
• 1983 Los Angeles Times, Group Exhibition at Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Reviewed by Robert L. Pincus
Collections
• Robert A. Rowan Collection, Pasadena, CA
• ABC Circle Films, Hollywood, CA
• Tisch/Avnet Collection, Santa Monica, CA