By Aaron Beane
Glenda Brown has been making art all her life. Over time, the Portraits, Inc. Exclusive Artist has built an extensive repertoire for capturing lives of significance in new and meaningful ways. As open to life as the fields that surround her rural studio outside of Memphis, TN, Brown is always searching. In each of her paintings, she extends herself to the possibility of discovery.
Brown’s work speaks to her surroundings. While spending most of her career traversing the tight weave of the artist’s canvas, Brown has diverted her attention to a new surface. Her paintings these days are often featured prominently on sheets of copper. Shining, worn, and sometimes embellished with a well-purposed patina, this unlikely modern painting material traces its history as far back as Medieval times. However, this material feels unmistakably reminiscent of a rural southern town and also charmingly industrial. The abundant space inside and outside her studio is essential in accommodating the rigorous process of cutting, grating, and, at times, tarnishing the cool sheets of metal.
Through experimentation Brown has unearthed new ways to let her subjects shine. Her ability and experience in depicting the sitter results from many sketches and studies over the years. Brown’s desire to grow and learn translates immediately. She is like a sponge, soaking up all that she is around. Her receptiveness and yearning for feedback makes her an easy and caring artist to work with collaboratively. “I look for what the client is imagining. It is not about me- it is about the client,” says Brown. However, her work does not stop there.
The artist has continued to evolve. New shapes and colors fill her studio. Brown’s copper portraits are now dappled with patterned backdrops and textures. This recent endeavor has pushed her work in a more abstracted direction. With geometric and decorative forms adorning clothing and enveloping her subjects, these new works spotlight a poignant contrast between the range of realism and emotion Brown can pull from her subjects. When contemplating what has drawn her back to portraits time and time again, Brown says, “I don’t know. There’s just so many people. Each one is beautiful, so unique.” Her loss for words does not convey a feeling of apathy, but instead one of awe and respect for the beauty that she has experienced. Glenda Brown’s portraits are a dive into what makes each of us special. They are artworks reflective of the change that is to come and all of the experiences that have brought a person to where they are now.
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