| Adventures of a Reluctant Omnivore (Mia Brownell solo exhibition)November 4, 2008- November 29, 2008Reception: November 6, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Mia Brownellstill life with catch (2008) © Mia Brownell Artgate Gallery |
Mia Brownell’s paintings uniquely layer Old Master realism with modern abstraction and conceptualism. From afar, the eye perceives great whorls and strings of color, and it is only upon approaching the canvas that each finely detailed fruit and organic form resolves itself in one’s vision. While her realist painting style invites one’s eye to linger over each minutely crafted grape, the movement of the vines flirts with abstract expressionism, inciting a dynamic movement of the eye over the whole canvas.
The relationship between fruit, life and death reaches back to the primal myths of western culture, in both the fruitfulness and temptations of the story of Eden. Brownell’s work also calls to mind the still lifes of the Dutch Renaissance, and the tradition of memento mori. Reminders of death and mortality in the midst of the cornucopia of life are depicted in many Renaissance works. In this show of new work, the rotting and dying fruit of memento mori make their first appearance in Brownell’s oeuvre. However, she reminds us of life in quite a different way as well. In a number of her paintings, the swirling grape vines form the double helix of a DNA strand, the building block of life.
By linking images of scientific models and the basic structures of life with images of the fruits that result from those structures, Brownell takes still life painting in diverse and conceptual new directions, richly revitalizing the genre.
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