About Cecily Browns work

Cecily Brown is interested in where (the place) the mind goes when when its trying to make up for what isn’t there. Which is something I’m very interested in - the subjective experience of the viewer and the psychology surrounding the painting. I feel that’s this becomes broader when the painting is elusive (eludes to figures/ objects/ landscapes) as it makes the painting more open to interpretation compared to paintings where imagery is painted explicitly.

‘Cecily Brown makes paintings that give the appearance of being in continual flux, alive with the erotic energy of her expressive application and vivid color, shifting restlessly between abstract and figurative modes. Making reference to the giants of Western painting—from Paolo Veronese, Peter Paul Rubens, and Edgar Degas to Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon, and Joan Mitchell—as well as to popular culture, she commands an aesthetic that breaks from the strictures of narrative to achieve an extraordinary visual and thematic fluidity.’

‘Her vigorous treatment of the nude figure in particular reveals a commitment to wresting conventional subjects free from their anticipated contexts. Key to the success of Brown’s aesthetic is her ability to seemingly transform paint into flesh, embedding the human form within a frenzied, fragmented commentary on desire, life, and death.’

‘In Brown’s hands, paint seems always to be in transition between liquid and solid, transparent and opaque states, and this material ballet is reflected in compositions themselves. Brown’s work has evolved gradually, expanding in scale, diversifying in allusion and palette, and incorporating elements of landscape. Sometimes she uses improvisation to kick-start new paintings, allowing unplanned initial strokes to help dictate the works’ subsequent direction. On other occasions she borrows imagery from art history, popular culture, or the intersection of the two.’

‘Brown consistently has multiple canvases in progress, moving between them in a manner that ensures a motif from one will find its way organically into another. She is also known for reworking paintings over a period of years.’

I find Cecily Browns colour palette very interesting because she tends to use a lot of fleshy tones whilst incorporating brighter colours such as bright yellows and oranges, greens, blues and pinks/purples. I feel that the colours help emphasise the fluidly of her paintings as they all blend into each other harmoniously. I like that she works on a large scale because her paintings were created with a lot of movement and expression which is easier to manage on a larger scale.

Artist research: Cecily Brown

Confirm copying