Contact: Tracy Martin, Assistant State Curator
802-828-0749, tracy.martin@state.vt.us
A show of new works by long-time Montpelier business owner and artist Ray Brown is on display at the Vermont Supreme Court through August 30. An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, July 8, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Brown describes the paintings in the Supreme Court show as his “reaction to places in the real world.” Most were created in response to a recent trip to Tuscany where he and his wife trekked to a different hill town every day. Bold abstracted forms in cadmium red, cadmium yellow, pthalo blue and other evocative colors vibrate off the canvases and the viewer is, most certainly, transported. “I’m inspired by the landscape,” notes the artist, “but I consider myself an abstractionist.”
Brown received his training in art at the Massachusetts College of Art, the Haystack Mountain School, Boston University, MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and the Cranbrook Institute. His work is well-known and well-loved in Central Vermont where it has been shown at venues including, the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, the Dibden Gallery in Johnson, Goddard College in Plainfield, and the T.W. Wood Gallery in Montpelier. Beyond Vermont, Brown has shown work at the National Gallery, the Addison Gallery of American Art, Boston Visual Artists Union and the San Antonio Muse
um and a many other art spaces.
While some may see Brown’s new paintings as a stylistic turn, there remains a strong relationship to his past work. Having retired from The Drawing Board, the Montpelier art supply store that Brown owns with his wife Jody Wilson Brown, he is now painting full-time. He explains, “I needed to change the way I painted for a way that enabled me to continue enjoying the process.” Based on this new body of work, it is clear that he has succeeded.
The Vermont Supreme Court building at 111 State Street in Montpelier is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The building will be closed July 23 and August 27.
image: San Gimignano #1, oil on canvas, 20” x 30”
