About
Julian Brown was born in 1974 and lives and works in London & Brighton. He studied at Liverpool John Moores University, England (1993–96) and Royal Academy Schools, London (1998–2001). His work is heavily influenced by childhood visions and the folk-art from his Polish mother. In 2016 he was selected for the John Moores Painting Prize 2016 and in 2012 was shortlisted for the Marmite Prize in Painting IV (2012–13). Brown has exhibited his work nationally and internationally with solo shows in both London and China.
Statement
The imagery in my work is very heavily influenced by nostalgic visions of the 1980’s and the folk art from my mother Polish heritage. Both of these worlds have a handmade geometric quality that has a playful and primitive relevance to the world we now live in.
I try to explore this ‘clunkiness’ with tactile images that sit somewhere between order and chaos, structure and collapse, expression and control. While the underpinning of the process is held together by predetermined structures, the freewheeling application is purposely engaging and ambivalent to the expressive urge to dictate the paintings.
Recent Solo Shows
Future Islands, Yantai Art Museum, Shangdong Province China 8th July - 8th August 2017
Mono Fauna Julian Brown at Westminster Arts Reference Library 3rd - 8th Aril 2017
A "Sense of Wonder" Solo Show York College Gallery 11th April - 19th May 2016
Julian Brown at The Mayor's Parlour, Bow Road London 6th Sept - 5th Oct 2013 - solo show
Julian Brown at St Marylebone Crypt 4th - 31st January 2014 Part of the Contemporay British Painting Series
Recent Group Shows
Beyond Other Horizons - Iasi Palace of Culture, Romania 1st -31st March 2020
Mountain Size - Pineapple Black Gallery Middlesbrough 1st Nov - 30th Nov 2019
Made in Britain - National Museum of Gdansk Poland 15th March - 9th June 2019
Touch - Julian Brown, Celia Cook, Jane Harris & Mali Morris. Candida Stevens Gallery 22 Sept - 27th Oct 2018
London Art Fair, Candida Stevens Gallery, Islington 17 - 21st Jan 2018
Contemporary Masters ‘80 painting from Britain’ Yantai Art Museum 9th July - 8th Aug 2017, Nanjing Artall Gallery 10 - 27th Oct, Jiangsu Art Museum 29 - 16th Nov, Tianjin Academy of Fine Art 1 Dec - 10 Jan 2018
We Live Now, Julian Brown & Emily Ball at Candida Stevens Gallery Chichester 25th Feb 25th March 2017.
Painting Experiment China Academy of Art Museum, Hangzhou, Shanghai, 1st -14th Jan 2017
John Moores Painting Prize 2016 Walker Gallery Liverpool 9th July - 27th November
East Sussex Open the Towner Gallery Summer 2016
Who's afraid of Red,Yellow and Blue OBS Gallery Tonbridge 20th September - 6th November
Contemporary British Watercolour touring venues include Maidstone Museum, Antrim museum, Biderford DevonOct 2015 - May 2016
Contemporary British Drawing Xian Institute of Fine Arts China Nov 2015
Contemporary British Abstraction The Container Gallery SE9 London 28th Feb - 11th April 2015
@PaintBritain at Ipswich Art School Nov 2014 - March 2015
Priseman Seabrook Collection Hudderfield Art Gallery Nov 2014 - March 2015
Contemporary British Painting Group Show St Marylebone Crypt Dec 2014
Signal Over Noise / Don't Split the Focus Pictorem Gallery London May 2014
Contemporary British Painting Group Show St Marylebone Crypt Dec 2013
Freeze at The Mayor's Parlour, Bow Road London Oct 2013
Plus Space Coventry 'Without an Edge there would is no Middle' 1st August - 8th September 2013
Selected for the Marmite Painting Prize at the following venues
Central Gallery Tameside on the 14th Dec 2012 - 16th Feb 2013
Mackintosh Mueseum Glasgow 1st March 2013 - 6th April 2013
Ruskin Gallery Cambridge 12th April - 10th May 2013
The Gallery at Plymouth Art College 20th May - 14th June 2013
Tannery Arts at Drawing Room London 28th June - 20th July 2013
Exhibiting in Stars on Canvas 22nd Nov - 2nd Dec 2012. Public exhibition 29th Nov 1st Dec at Maddox Arts, 52 Brookes Mews, London
Phantoms - Angus Hughes Gallery, London 11th May - 3rd June 2012. Curated by Julian Brown & Claude Vergez
Selected for the emergancy5 biennial exhibition at the Aspex gallery Portmouth. Exhibition dates 22nd October 2011 - 8th January 2012
2010 - Aspex gallery Portsmouth
Collections
Yantai Art Museum China, Falmouth Art Gallery, Abbott Hall Collection, Prizeman Seabrrok Collection, China Academy of Art Museum, Hangzhou, Shanghai