Carolyn Brown’s most recent body of work deviates from her traditional documentarian style through her use of digital collage, a process involving the cropping and manipulation of hundreds of images through computer software which are then pieced together to create each singular artwork. What distinguishes Brown’s work from others who practice this technique is the nearly two decades’ worth of photographs from which she pulls the collaged elements. The wildlife and plants that comprise the works in this exhibition are lifted from Brown’s still life images of flowers that she photographed in her studio as well as from her photographs of Caddo Lake, Atchafalaya Basin, Marfa, and even the artist’s own backyard in Dallas.
While Brown’s technique is firmly rooted in contemporary practices, the series subtly pays tribute to the history of decorative art, an often-minimized or disregarded sect of art history, through references to twentieth-century European silk scarves, ancient Chinese screens and scrolls, and Islamic architecture. Brown’s blending of contemporary technique with historical references not only calls attention to lesser-discussed art mediums, but places this body of work within a global art history tradition.
On view on the UT Dallas campus.