Alex Brown’s work is playfully difficult to pin down. From a distance it appears representational yet as one approaches the image, it falls apart into abstraction. As one steps away, like an animation, the abstraction reconfigures back into representation. The edges of the repeated modular shapes that compose the abstraction are hard edge with centers like some candies, gushy or gelatinous. The representational aspect of the work references the photography of the found printed source material, and the abstraction references mathematics or the computer, though neither technology is utilized. Sometimes science pops into that discussion as the repeated modular form begs to be understood as molecular structure. There are of course other ways to enter this work, color and history probably being the most obvious, or in this body of work in particular, light. My main concern however, is that we go for the multiple reads and enjoy the 200% that the artist builds into them. Alex Brown was born in Des Moines in 1966, lives there now, and took a BFA from Parsons School of Design in 1991. He began exhibiting with Feature Inc. in 1988 and this is his 6th solo exhibition with the gallery. |
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Julia, 2012; oil paint on canvas; 50.5 x 48.5”; $ 25,000 | Flower, 2012; oil paint on canvas; 38 x 35”; 18,000 | Untitled, 2011; ink on paper; 23.5 x 17.75”; $ 6,000 | Untitled, 2011; ink on paper; 23.75 x 17.75”; $ 6,000 framed | Untitled, 2011; watercolor on paper; 10 x 13.5”; $ 4,500 framed> | Untitled, 2011; watercolor on paper; 10 x 14”; $ 4,500 framed | Storm, 2012; oil paint on canvas; 55.5 x 60.5”; 30,000 | Untitled, 2012; watercolor on paper; 16.25 x 12.25”; $ 5,000 framed | Untitled, 2012; watercolor on paper; 14.25 x 10.25”; $ 4,500 framed | Boat, 2012; oil paint on canvas; 47.5 x 50.5”; $ 25,000 | Concert for Hate and War, 2012; oil paint on canvas; 62.5 x 60.5”; 30,000 | Untitled, 2012; watercolor on paper; 12.25 x 16”; $ 5,000 framed | Untitled, 2012; watercolor on paper; 14.25 x 10.25”; $ 4,500 framed | Bloom, 2012; oil paint on canvas; 29 x 28”; $ 18,000 | Untitled, 2012; watercolor on paper; 12 x 12”; $ 4,500. framed | Untitled, 2012; watercolor on paper; 12.25 x 16”; $ 5,000 framed |