On The Cover: Gabe Brown
April 2, 2010
Gabe Brown paints adult fairy tales. She delves somewhere that is often elapsed or unknown into little cavelettes that remind you of magicians and rabbits being pulled from hats, where scarves are never ending, tears can exactly form an ocean, and the lottery jackpot can hide in quarters behind your ear.
Brown's work is motivated by nature, yet also mathematically defined figures. They interrelate with fluid, freehand shapes creating somewhat escapist environments. At one time I would have described myself as a purely abstract painter, Brown says. Although many of the shapes edge on the side of organic grounded behind all the construct is something tangible. I paint landscapes, she concludes. A world is formed through vignettes. Off-colored and weird as they may appear, they are still fields and oceans.
Brown describes the paintings as miniature self-portraits, with moments of her life making homes in them. Like a notion album, the theme is threaded through the individual paintings. They highlight human effort, not simply her own, but how weakness seems to accompany existence. What could be a worn-out encouragement seems related and anything but tacky. Life's hard, she says. I think there's power in that. She portrays loss and uncertainty wearing the garb of infancy, of possibility. Her viewpoint is not about throwing in the towel. Brown sides with the optimists.
Labels: Abstract Painting, cavelettes, Gabe Brown, Self-Portraits
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