I have been creating art for over 25 years. I am originally from Southern California, and have been living and producing work in the UK for the past 16 years.
I have been creating art for over 25 years. I am originally from Southern California, and have been living and producing work in the UK for the past 16 years.
"Through photography, drawing and sculpture, Deborah Brown presents a complex, sometimes playful, body of work examining the nebulous intersections of desire and imperative, lust and regret, self and other. Brown candidly unveils the body as a contentious site of conflicted impulses and unresolved demands. Conceptually conceived as a shrine to feminine desire, or at least an intentionally kitschy appropriation of male-dominated fetishistic vernaculars, (like those found in trucker culture, porn, and pinup), Brown’s latest work questions the cultural, and personal discomfort associated with feminine expressions and assertions of want.
Brown reveals the body as a site of identity, fragmentation, and desire. In herwork, the artist offers overtly exaggerated expressions of feminine sexuality with playfulcomplicity and co-optation. Her pieces are at once a critique of, and participation in, the cultural colonization of the human body as a locus of desire and revulsion. Often bordering on the grotesque, her imagery hyperbolizes sexuality, the body's abject proximity to death, and the psychologically irreconcilable nature of biologically essentialist demands. For Brown, the body is a site of failure and fulfillment, excess and deprivation, vanity and humiliation: a corporeal manifestation of the ego's psycho-spiritual struggle."
Deborah Brown is represented by Jason Vass Gallery, Los Angeles, California
EDUCATION
1991-1993 University of California, Irvine, School of Fine Arts, Irvine, CA
Master of Fine Arts Degree: Visual Arts
Faculty: Catherine Lord, Daniel Martinez, Lari Pittman, Catherine Opie, Barbara Krueger
1988-1990 University of California, San Diego, Visual Arts, La Jolla, CA 92093
Bachelor of Arts Degree: Studio Art - Cum Laude
Faculty: Kim MacConnell, Italo Scanga, Ernest Silva, Faith Ringgold, Dale Chihuly
1985-1986 Otis Parsons School of Design, 9045 Lincoln Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
Study: Foundation Year
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Oct 29 – Dec 30, 2016 Jason Vass, Los Angeles, CA
Deborah Brown: Careful What You Wish For
March 4-6, 2011 Pool Art Fair, NYC “Deborah Brown”
August 1996- Sept 2001 DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park
Lincoln, Massachusetts “Cock Bob”
June 17 - 21, 1996 Human Ant Farm, Absolut Vodka Website, Venice, CA
“Deborah Brown”
June 8 - July 13, 1996 Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“Deborah Brown: New Work”
April 7-July 15, 1995 Laguna Art Museum, Costa Mesa, CA
“Deborah Brown: Vanity Fair”
Dec 3-Jan 6, 1994-5 Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“Deborah Brown: New Work”
Nov 13-Jan 3, 94-95 Barney’s America “Toys” (12 Stores Nationwide)
Nov 15-Dec 28, 1994 Barney’s New York 17th St. Windows, “And The Queen Stole Christmas”, “Octavia’s 12 Days”
Nov 15-Dec 28, 1994 Barney’s Beverly Hills, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
Oct 1-Jan 28, 94-95 Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, “Deborah Brown’s Big Top”
April 25-May 9, 1994 Barney’s New York, Madison Avenue Shop Windows
July 22-Sept 4, 1993 Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015
June 8 – August 16 Royal Academy London, Summer Exhibition
2014
Nov 12 – 25 BFAMI Auction, Phillips London and Paddle 8
2010 - 2011
October 16- Jan 15 Empire Gallery, London “Hot”
2007
Dec. 16, 06-April 29 Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID “Remix”
2006
Feb 10 – April 15 Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, CA “From the Island of Misfit Toys”
2005
March 11 – July 10 Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA “Playtime”
1996
Nov 21 - Dec 21 Threadwaxing Space, New York
“Romper Room” Curated by Danielle Cheng
1995
Oct 7-Dec 31 Muckenthaller Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA “From Behind The Orange Curtain”
Sept 9-Oct 8 Cal State University, Fullerton Main Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA “Confronting Nature: Silenced Voices”
May 3-June 3 Bernard Toal Gallery, Boston, MA
“Plastic” Curated by Nancy Doll
Mar 17-April 15 Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
“Lo-Cal” Curated by Marisa Hernandez
Jan 10-Feb 3 Cerritos College Fine Arts Gallery, Norwalk, CA
“In Excess” Curated by Marilu Knode
1994
June 25-July30 Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“Year I:A Survey”
June 12-July 9 SITE, Los Angeles, CA
“The Graduate”
April-May Rio Honda College, Whittier, CA
“Playfield” Curated by Randy Sommers
Jan 15-Feb 26 James Corcoran Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“Animal Farm”
1993
Oct 1 - Nov 7 The Works Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA
“Kustom Grafix: Fine Art From the Underground”
SELECTED PRESS
ART AND CAKE reviews Deborah Brown’s “Careful What You Wish For”, Dec 12, 2016https://artandcakela.com/2016/12/12/deborah-brown-careful-what-you-wish-for/
DIVERSIONS by Genie Davis reviews Deborah Brown’s “Careful What You Wish For”, Nov 2, 2016 http://diversionsla.com/?p=5274
THE M MAGAZINE, intheArtworld.com, April 2011
http://themmag.com/img/M_Apr11_Jennie_E_Park_v8.pdf
ART AND LIVING, July 17, 2009 “Art Spotlight: Sculptor Deborah Brown” http://www.artandliving.com/2009/07/17/art-spotlight-sculptor-deborah-brown
THE SEATTLE TIMES, May 13, 2005 “Young Artists Having Fun Now and Then”, Matthew Kangas
Zine Magazine, Zine Press, Tokyo, Japan. August 1995 (pgs. 41-43)
LOS ANGELES TIMES, Nov 25, 1994, Beyette, Beverly. “Around Town: A Twisted Christmas” (Section E, pgs E1-E2)
LOS ANGELES TIMES, May 16, 1995, Curtis, Cathy. “The Misfits”,(Section F, pg 2)
LOS ANGELES TIMES Orange County Edition, May 5, 1995, Dubin, Zan “Masquerading as ‘Vanity’Fare”, (Section F, pg 26)
ArtIssues, Nov/Dec 1993, Duncan, Michael. “Deborah Brown at Mark Moore Gallery”, (number 30; pg 47)
THE NEW YORK OBSERVER, Nov 21, 1994 Gimelson, Deborah “Barneys. Art and Fashion World Get with Xmas Spirit” (pg 24)
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, Nov 1994 , Herman, Valli. “Festive Facades”. (pg E5)
LOS ANGELES TIMES, August 27, 1993. Pagel, David. “Exposing the Pain Behind Our Poses: Deborah Brown at Mark Moore Gallery”, (pg F24)
LOS ANGELES TIMES, Orange County Edition, May 25, 1995 “Off The Cuff” Artist Plays up Mocks of Distinction” (Section E, pg 4)
NEW YORK POST, Nov 25, 1994,O’Mahony, John “Putting up a Good Front”, (pg 37,46)
ART & ANTIQUES, May 1995, Melrod, George. “Openings”, (pg 32)
SAN DIEGO UNION, Dec 1, 1994, Pincas, Robert. “Brown: Ringmaster of Surreal with ‘Big Top’”, (Night & Day Section, pg 3, 46)
Toevs, Stacey Witt “White, Red and the Blues for Barneys”, VISUAL MERCHANDISING AND STORE DESIGN, March 1995 (Cover and pgs. 25-26)
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, May 26, 1995, Walsh, Daniella, “Feminist Self Critique in the Alley of the Dolls”, (Show Weekend section, pg. 70)
MUSEUM AND COLLECTOR PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Peter Norton Family Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida
Berkeley Art Museum at the University of California, Berkeley,California
Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho
Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee Wisconsin
Henry Art Gallery Seattle, Washington
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California
