I recently visited the Glenn Brown exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery. His paintings are masterfully painted, and I'm in complete awe in terms of how his creative mind can visualise these surreal textures. The paintings create a real sense of unease within me. The textures feel as though they're creeping off the canvas as if they were maggots wriggling around on a corpse. But even with this sense of discomfort I find it hard to avert my eyes and not to be captivated by these fantastic paintings presented to me. The Gasgosian Gallery was also exhibiting some of his sculpture work which I couldn't help but be transfixed by. Thick layers of paint piled up layer upon layer, leaving me wondering what exactly lay beneath this weight mass. A truely provocative and exciting exhibition.
'Appropriation is at the heart of Brown's work. He painstakingly recreates images borrowed from both high art and popular culture. Favourite subjects remain the work of Frank Auerbach, but also Salvador Dali, Rembrandt and the apocalyptic Northumberland painter John Martin.
But the pieces are far from mere reproductions. Brown stretches distorts and manipulates his chosen image – colours are amplified, turned putrid or rendered kitsch by the "callous use of lime green and pink" creating an entirely new visual and emotional experience for the observer. The often heavy impasto of artists such as Auerbach is rendered utterly flat prompting some to wrongly believe the painting has been sprayed.' (the independent)
