In his upcoming exhibition at FIG, Ray Brown takes a look back at his seminal works from the early 1960’s.  These groundbreaking works have continued to deeply impact his artistic output to this day.  The multi-layered images and dramatic narrative found in these early works established Brown’s interest in producing imagery of powerful psychological impact paired with unexpected visual juxtapositions.  The artist maintains a reserved, unemotional artistic eye that can make his work unsettling for the viewer.  This is not easy, pretty art.  Brown’s art is difficult, perplexing, sometimes disturbing, always surprising. 

Ray Brown writes of this exhibition: “Explaining the work in this exhibition requires some information about paintings I made in the early 1960's when I was teaching at the University of Illinois. Something led me to paint figures at a forty-five degree angle. I liked the balance of the images better when I doubled the figures. By the time I was hired to teach at UCLA in 1963 I was doing images straight up, but still doubled, and more varied from side to side than before. My exhibition of these last works at the Ceeje Gallery led to my being credited by some as the inventor of the double image. However, Warhol, and perhaps others, began to repeat images about the same time, but for other reasons.

“As I continued I used images of past and present family or current events on one side and associated images that came to mind on the other side. I was interested in the narrative psychology of dreams and emotions.

“With time some images were single, but still related to family psychology, or related to the lives of models.”

Ray Brown is a graduate of U.C.L.A., as well as long-time professor of art and former chair of the art department there.

For further information, please contact:  Jeff Gambill, Director (310) 829-0345.