Dean Brown's father was from Massachusetts and his mother from South Carolina, so he maintains that he grew up in a cultural, civil war. They were an Army family and moved often, absorbing different influences as they travelled. Despite these years of movement, Dean considers himself a Southerner and chose Southern colleges for his higher education. He spent thirty-four years as an art teacher and is now retired. Nowadays, his greatest learning comes from those around him constantly encouraging him to open his eyes. When not painting, Dean enjoys his hobby, making perfume, and spending time with his husband and their dog.
Statement
My 2023 body of work is titled "Means of Escape", and I have endeavored to explore the prisons which we build for ourselves and those which are foisted upon us, both literal and metaphorical, both stone and emotional. These prisons can exercise a pervasive weight, but we are often anxious to keep them at arms distance or to ignore them altogether. I have used transparency to create layers and allow the viewer to look inside the paintings, thereby finding one's way in and out of these prisons. As well, I have used bars and circles as compositional tools and as metaphorical elements. Bars and circles can appear to keep one both in or out.
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