Ego’s Odyssey

Ego’s Odyssey portrays a physical and psychological journey through four solid bronze figures. 

“I Am What I Am” (Figure 1), Here he stands. Strong, self assured.  BD energy.  The masculine in all its glory.  Ready to perpetuate, dominate.  Invincible.  Attractive.  Very attractive.

“This Wasn’t Supposed to Happen” (Figure 2) An unexpected blow has occurred. In a wilted stance, with feet turned in, shrunken testicles and streaming golden tear drops some event has struck the figure and rendered him weak. The cause unknown; a possible result of disease, financial set back, ageing, loss, fall from grace, or other upheaval.  He views himself as no longer in his masculine glory.  What will become of him now?

“Blame Biology” (Figure 3) The blow has rendered the figure vulnerable where he is then brutally preyed upon by the ruthless mantis. In the natural world, species preservation ordains the weak to be eliminated, often killed, so that strong new life can prevail. Here a praying mantis, infamous for eating her mate after copulation, is shown ripping the flesh off of our struggling victim. It is a tragic demise as he fights for his life.

“The Release of What Was” (Figure 3) He has a choice, to perish or fight and rebuild. He choses life, despite the enormous struggle that choice entails. Instead of destroying him, the mantis bite facilitates a dramatic and literal tearing open of his protective veneer. Inside, an unexpected glistening core is revealed where golden moths emerge, symbolising transformation and freedom.  After conquering the demons that dogged him, he attains heightened physical and psychic perfection, now enhanced by lessons learned from the battle. 

Sculptures cast by Pangolin Editions Foundry, Chalford, United Kingdom

Now available for purchase individually in edition sizes of 20 with 2 a/p

EVOLUTION

With Botticelli’s Venus’ roses in the background, a female figure stands front and centre. She seems appealing but behind closed doors she houses the unexpected. Open the doors of this wall mounted box piece and you will find all is not as hoped.

2020, Wood, Vinyl, Gold Lead, polymer clay 36 x 30 x 6 inches

Inside doors within doors, I Need To Be Contained examines the compartmentalisation of intimacy, desire and sexuality. This inconspicuous cabinet houses dangerous belongings that must be kept under wraps for fear of what they could unleash.

2020 Antique wood cabinet, polymer clay, paint 18 x 20 x 4 inches

“Brown loops in a tribe usually outside of contemporary art conversation: trucker culture. Depictions of trucks and truck drivers are akin with motorcycle gangs: they are cowboys on highways. And cowboys pack a heavy Apollo ego. By branding a distinctly female image on a trucker’s door, Brown advances the woman into a male dominated arena”

2016 Airbrush on Peterbilt Truck Door, Exhaust Stack 93 x 50 inches

“During a performance piece at the opening, a piñata mimics the form of the flaming vagina and was beaten with a penis shaped bat (Bat Out of Heaven). Once the piñata was ripped, candy red hots poured from the opening onto the floor” The gathered crowd excitedly cheered this humorous yet tragic spectacle.

2016 Paper, Red Hots candy

Used in the Pinata performance at the Private View this bat is a dream come true or a nightmare.

2016 Lime wood, 30 x 5.5 inches

OUR LITTLE SECRET

These boxes speak about separation and compartmentalisation. Sexual longing kept under wraps, tamped down, restrained, confined only to this small space. Portable pleasure that can be slipped inside a bag or case, available on demand. Detached from the whole. Unabashedly, its just the body part of pleasure that matters here, nothing else. 

2016 Vintage wood boxes, polymer clay, paint. Sizes vary

WERE DO WE GO FROM HERE 2016

 "This group suggests that female sexuality has been bridled for utilitarian purposes rather than a release of pleasure. The rustic composition of the yokes on the wall brings to mind a trophy-hunting wall. This is an example of Brown’s undercurrent of tragedy. Where Do We Go From Here? Nowhere"

Each made of leather, cowhide, metal, wood. 41 x 22 x 8 inches

A once functional dovecote is now mounted on hand carved women’s legs. This roost is Brown’s most telling self portrait.  Here, small rooms, intended for doves, unabashedly depict vanity, repression, desire, body identification, body fragmentation, materialism, spirituality and sanity in a dolls house thats gone terribly wrong.

2012, Wood, metal, plaster, plastic, wire, leather, 103 x 40 inches diameter

An eight and a half foot penis man hand carved from white cedar, Brown both objectifies and fetishises the phallus, while playing with coexisting themes of desire and horror, attraction and repulsion.

2012 White cedar, 87 x 27 x 18 inches

AM I RELEVANT?

A solid aluminium platter offers varied sexualised female body parts. It examines the deconstruction of the the body, in which the parts not only eclipse the whole but eliminate it. The individual is absent and what remains is disconnected, interchangeable, replaceable. Served up on a platter, it mocks a more subservient stereotype, one that often still prevails. Consumerist ideals are explored whereby the relationship to self and wholeness have been abandoned in order to feed the slick, veneered and hungry machine of consumption. The piece straddles a display of heightened sexuality and the cold absence of it as the self is reduced to mere iconography.

2012, Aluminium 30 x 20 x 42 inches

Portrays the often heartless world of attraction and sex.  Here a chrome plated heart spins in the centre of a roulette table.  Various hair bun options encircle awaiting.  Whichever bun the heart randomly lands upon will do in this slick, emotionally safe game.  

2012, Wood, metal, resin, hair 43 x 39 inches diameter

 A meticulously crafted wood and leather vulva shaped candy box is filled with various wood carved chocolates, each with a bite missing. Each chocolate has been tasted, not enjoyed, and then discarded.  Wrapped in a pretty box the piece examines waste and sexual degradation.  

2012, Wood, leather 60 x 24 x 15 inches

 This shell questions the cultural discomfort associated with feminine expressions and assertions of want.

2012, Resin, 30 x 20.5 x 10 inches

 A female is trapped inside a golden Rapunzel’s tower. Her imprisonment, a result of her buying into the promise of happiness through materialism and fairy tale myths.

2010, Resin 19 1 / 2 x 16 inches