Cecily Brown
Cecily Brown, Untitled, 2015, mixed media on paper, signed verso, 130.81 x 200.66 cm / 51.5 x 79, Photograph by Genevieve Hanson, Courtesy the artist, copyright Sadie Coles HQ, London
From June 25 to September 30, the Hydra Workshop will be exhibiting the work of New York–based British artist Cecily Brown.
Cecily Brown, Untitled, 2015, mixed media on paper, signed verso, 130.81 x 200.66 cm / 51.5 x 79, Photograph by Genevieve Hanson, Courtesy the artist, copyright Sadie Coles HQ, London
From Wikipedia:
Cecily Brown is a British painter. Her style displays the influence of a variety of painters, from Francisco de Goya, Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon, and Joan Mitchell, to Old Masters like Rubens and Poussin; yet her works also present a distinctly female viewpoint.
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Brown’s paintings combine figuration and abstraction. Expanding the tradition of abstract expressionism, she has become known for her painting style suggestive of abstract and abstract expressionist painters such as de Kooning and Oskar Kokoschka. Sexuality and attraction are important themes in her work, which she explores through semi-figurative and abstract means. Her paintings also recall the works of Philip Guston and the Bay Area Figurative School of the 1950s and 1960s. Brown often titles her paintings after classic Hollywood films, such as The Pyjama Game, The Bedtime Story and The Fugitive Kind. In 2013, Brown based a series of paintings on a photograph of a large group of nude women that appeared on the British release of a 1968 Jimi Hendrix album Electric Ladyland.
The sexuality and eroticism of Brown’s depictions of expressive figures and nudes are echoed in rich colors, luscious paint handling, and animated brushwork; her work combines representational and abstract elements. Her tactile technique stands out among contemporaries and links her to the art movement Abstract Expressionism. However, self-conscious of her connection with artists such as Willem de Kooning and Lucian Freud, Brown often interjects fresh humor or irony by titling her paintings after famous musicals and films. She has been grouped with leading female contemporary painters, including Charline von Heyl, Jacqueline Humphries, Laura Owens, Jutta Koether, Amy Sillman, and Emily Sundblad.
Brown describes her process as “organic.” She often spends multiple days on works, and will work on up to 20 works at a time, allowing layers of paint to dry between applications.
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