Anna Zorina Gallery is pleased to announce Things As They Are, Deborah Brown’s first exhibition with the Gallery. The show features the artist’s latest body of work developed during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this time, Brown shifted her immediate approach towards the intimate subject matter of self-portraits and still lives. With her raw painterly style, Deborah imbues each scene with unique narrative and dynamic emotion.
Deborah Brown’s exhibition, Things As They Are, takes its title from the 1937 Wallace Stevens poem “The Man with The Blue Guitar”
....‘Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar.’
The title is both an assertion and a question. Like the poet, Brown investigates the relationship between life and art, specifically the way the artist atomizes and reconstructs our experience of reality, raising the possibility of a realm beyond the visible. Brown's depiction of the quotidian is a celebration of the here and now and a gateway to other worlds.
Deborah hones in on domestic scenes, highlighting individual attributes of consumption, decoration and femininity. This investigation functions as her unique brand of psychoanalysis rather than the fetishization of her surroundings. The objects that occupy her works have inherent sentimental value as well as an elaborate story of origin and circumstance. They are brought to life when viewed from a close perspective, one that mimics the artist’s intimate familiarity with each memento. After years as a custodian to these objects, Brown connects their presence to her past and to a world we all might inhabit. By delving into the particulars of her own image and environment, the artist intends to uncover broader truths that relate to the experiences of others. We surround ourselves with things that affirm us, intrigue us and reveal ourselves to ourselves. It offers a mirror and a window into our experience and feelings. We do not have to share Brown’s history to experience her truth.
DEBORAH BROWN (b. 1955, Pasadena, CA) Brown lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She has a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Indiana University. Recent solo and group exhibitions include: GAVLAK Palm Beach, FL; Burning in Water, New York; Danese/Corey, New York; The Lodge, Los Angeles; Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art, Houston, TX; Union Hall, Denver, CO; The Bundy Modern, Waitsfield, VT; Underdonk, Brooklyn; GEARY Contemporary, New York; Lesley Heller Gallery, New York; BravinLee programs, New York; Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen and Angell Gallery, Toronto. Brown's work is included in prestigious public collections, among them the Indianapolis Museum of Art, DeCordova Museum, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu; Bass Museum of Art, Miami; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; Orlando Museum of Art, Florida; and The Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina. Her work has been covered in prestigious publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art Forum and Art in America. Brown has been a visiting artist and lecturer at Penn State University, Hunter College, Pace University, Columbia University, Maryland Institute College of Art, Yale University and Art Omi. She is a 2020 Fellow in Shandaken Projects’ Paint School Master Class.
For press inquires, please contact Thomas Brown, Olu & Company, thomas@olucompany.com
For further information, please contact Marie Nyquist at 212-243-2100
or via email at marie@annazorinagallery.com