Harper’s is pleased to announce Haunted House and Paradise, concurrent solo exhibitions by Deborah Brown and Max Jansons at the gallery’s East Hampton location. The exhibitions will open on June 25, 6–8pm, with a reception attended by the artists.
In Haunted House, Deborah Brown presents a series of paintings depicting the quotidian in colors and textures that transform her scenes into dramatic dreamscapes. During the pandemic, Brown began to take a closer look at her surroundings in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Through her explorations of the neighborhood, the locale became a universe. Earlier works depict warehouses left empty—industrial structures standing vacant and void of activity. In more recent paintings, Brown shifts her gaze toward the unique residential architecture of her neighborhood, where private activity behind siding and glass panes sparks curiosity in the midst of deserted public spaces.
In Pink Tree, we see a simple townhouse transformed into something with a pulse. Aluminum siding is feathered in celadon green, applied by the artist in smooth, flowing lines to create gentle currents in the edifice. Golden light pours onto the home, spilling into the copper gateway that separates the domicile’s private space from the public. Are we watching from behind a tree? Or through a window across the street? Tree limbs protrude toward a door set deep into the face of the building, hovering just above the shadow of a passerby and their dog, whose lapis forms are stretched toward the gate. Who is the passerby? A lurker? A neighbor?
The figures passing by are Deborah Brown and her dog, and the landscape is a residential block in her Brooklyn neighborhood. No other figures are present in the paintings, a reference to over two years of quarantine and isolation. Humble edifices presented in the absence of their inhabitants are transformed—seen as natural to their environment. The siding becomes the cliffside, and the fence, the moss of time. In this metaphorical space, our own shadow becomes a ghost, a home, a dreamland, a haunted house.
Deborah Brown (b. 1955, Pasadena, CA) received a BA from Yale University in 1976, and an MFA from Indiana University in 1978. Most recently, Brown’s work has been the subject of solo presentations at James Barron Art, Kent, CT (2022); Tennis Elbow at Journal Gallery, New York (2022); Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg, Derneburg, DE (2021); GAVLAK, Palm Beach (2021); Anna Zorina Gallery, New York (2021); Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art, Houston (2021); and The Lodge, Los Angeles (2019). She has participated in group exhibitions at Harper’s, East Hampton (2022); Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami (2022); Nassima Landau, Tel Aviv (2022); Bienvenu Steinberg & Partner, New York (2022); Anna Zorina Gallery, New York (2022 and 2020); and Volery Gallery, Dubai (2021), among other institutions. Brown’s work has been acquired by numerous collections, including Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi; Bass Museum of Art, Miami; DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA; and Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis. Brown lives and works in Brooklyn.