About the Artist
Paintings
Henry Brown’s paintings are mechanically drawn geometric abstractions. He forms his imagery from structural schematics constructed with compass and ruler. The schematics are developed from small sketches and then drawn directly on the gessoed canvases. Henry Brown paints the images, but leaves the underdrawings visible to show the substructure, planning and execution of his artwork.
The artist uses mechanical drafting techniques and paints with flat unmodulated color. Yet Henry Brown retains a handmade quality in his artwork, seen in the knifed finish of the gessoed layers, variations in pencil lines and eccentricities of the painted edges.
His imagery appears to be fixed spatially, but visual perception triggers sensations of movement. Depth shifts as surfaces advance and recede. Henry Brown animates the surfaces of his abstract paintings with systems of perspective and changing figure-ground relationships.
Yaddo
Henry Brown has been awarded a residency at Yaddo for 2009. Yaddo is an artists’ community located on a 400-acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. It offers residencies to professional creative artists from all nations and backgrounds working in choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance art, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. Yaddo’s mission is to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.
Flickr: Photos of Yaddo from the artist's residency
Bulletin Board: Inspiration Information
Henry Brown is included in the current Minus Space Viewlist. The Viewlist is a curated online thematic visual essay of images. Bulletin Board: Inspiration Information, conceived by Karen Schifano, is a photo essay of areas in studios and homes where artists post images to look to for inspiration, thought, and research.
Recent Exhibitions and an Interview
News About Henry Brown: Recent exhibits include MINUS SPACE at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, American Abstract Artists at The Painting Center, Machine Learning traveling exhibition and catalog, also an interview for Houston Public Radio KUHF