Mark Brown

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Mark Brown

Painting

Lives and works in Chapel Hill, NC
(b. 1949, American)

Q: If you were a paint color in the hardware store, what would it be called? And can you describe the color?

A: “Lightning in a Jar The color of a cobalt blue Vicks jar filled with fireflies, at night.”

Details

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am as driven by paint’s malleability as I am by my need to express the indefinable. I use brushes, knives and trowels to apply paint. To subtract I use squeegees, turpentine wipes and sandpaper. I often make my own paint to enhance the tinting strength of the colors.

Improvisation within a thematic framework is the foundation of my pictorial approach. The philosophical discipline in my studio practice is Shoshin, or ‘beginner’s mind.’ ‘…having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level.’

My conscientious editing produces art that is deceptively simple and powerfully affective.

CV // Mark Brown

ABOUT

Mark Brown earned a BA at the University of Kentucky and an MFA at UNC Chapel Hill.
He has shown his work in solo exhibitions including the National Humanities Center, Duke Institute for the Arts, Marita Gilliam Gallery, Artspace, 5ive and 40rty, Flanders Gallery and group exhibitions at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Ackland Art Museum, Davidson College, the Painting Center among others.
His work has been featured in Art in America at Art Basel Miami and has twice won Grand Prize at the NC Artists Exhibition, and was named one of Five Artists you should know.
He has been reviewed in Art Matters, artdaily, artblog, Winston-Salem Journal, Philadelphia Enquirer, Spectator, Raleigh News & Observer, Durham Herald-Sun, the Independent, geoform.net, among others.
He has received grants/scholarships from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation; Gottlieb Foundation; Artists
Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center; UNC Chapel Hill; Kent State University; and NC Arts Council.