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The Bicentennial Champion

Joan Brown
The Bicentennial Champion, 1976
Enamel on canvas
96 x 78 inches
JBRp 02

Christmas Time 1970 (Joan & Noel)

Joan Brown
Christmas Time 1970 (Joan & Noel), 1970
Oil enamel on masonite
96 x 48 inches
JBRp 16
 

Portrait of a Girl

Joan Brown
Portrait of a Girl, 1971
Enamel on masonite
96 x 48 inches
JBRp 78

Parts of a Woman

Joan Brown
Parts of A Woman, 1972
Oil enamel on canvas, 7 panels
Varying dimensions
JBRp 79

Cosmic Nurse

Joan Brown
Cosmic Nurse, 1978
Enamel on canvas
96 x 78 inches
JBRp 83

Self-Portrait at Age 42

Joan Brown
Self-Portrait at Age 42, 1980
Enamel on canvas
71 3/4 x 60 inches
JBRp 19

The Dancers #1

Joan Brown
The Dancers #1, 1971
Oil enamel on masonite
90 x 48 inches
JBRp 75

The Kiss

Joan Brown
The Kiss, 1976
Enamel on canvas
96 x 78 inches
JBRp 54

Woman Waiting in a Theatre Lobby

Joan Brown
Woman Waiting in a Theatre Lobby, 1975
Enamel on canvas
78 x 90 inches
JBRp 63

Smoker

Joan Brown
Smoker, 1973
Cardboard, oil enamel, wire, string, and stone bead
21 1/2 x 16 x 8 1/4 inches
JBRs 3

Luxury Liner

Joan Brown
Luxury Liner, 1973
Cardboard, gouache, metallic gouache, acrylic, graphite, oil, and string
29 1/4 x 44 x 11 inches
JBRs 04

Press Release

During March and April the GEORGE ADAMS GALLERY will present a special exhibition of paintings and constructions by JOAN BROWN (1938-1990) at CB1-G in LOS ANGELES. A survey of eleven self-portraits made between 1970 and 1980, the period during which Brown firmly established herself as an artist with a unique vision, most of the works on view have never been previously shown in Los Angeles.

 

By the early 1960s Joan Brown was already celebrated for her colorful, heavily impastoed figurative paintings and her work featured in regular exhibitions in galleries and museums across the United States. Yet in 1965, feeling stylistically constrained by her association with the Bay Area Figurative movement, she withdrew from gallery exhibitions and retreated into her studio in order to redefine herself artistically. After a hiatus of several years, Brown reemerged with a highly introspective body of work that focused primarily on the self-portrait, portraying herself as she was: a complicated and at times contradictory set of personas. In these paintings Joan is not only an artist but also a daughter, wife, mother, lover, athlete, dancer, world traveler, and mystic, all subjects she continued to explore until her premature death in 1990.

 

JOAN BROWN HERSELF begins chronologically with examples of four enamel on masonite paintings from the early 1970s; notably “Christmas Time (Noel and Joan)” (1970) and “Parts of A Woman” (1972). Additional works include two constructions in cardboard and string, “Luxury Liner” and ”The Smoker” (1973) as well as two large-scale canvases, “Woman Waiting in a Theater Lobby” (1975) and “The Kiss” (1976). The exhibition continues chronologically with an example of her late-70s immersion in spirituality, “Cosmic Nurse” (1978), and concludes with “Self-portrait at Age 42” (1980), one of many “birthday” self-portraits she painted over the course of her career.

 

JOAN BROWN HERSELF will be on view at CB1-G from Saturday, March 12th through Saturday, April 23rd. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 to 5 or by appointment.