NYAB Event - Colin Brown “Black & Light”

Colin Brown “Black & Light”

Fischbach Gallery

This event has ended.

In childhood Brown observed the New York City skyline from his parent’s 23rd floor apartment. Finding New York City at night a mesmerizing image, he photographed from atop the Empire State Building, The World Trade Center, and Rockefeller Center. Combining the information from his photographs with his skills as an artist Brown created Blackboards.
In a Blackboard Brown first prepares a white undersurface on a panel, to which he then applies a pitch-black layer. This wet black layer is dusted nickel, carbon or charcoal powder. Working in a precisionist manner using a jeweler’s tool, Brown skillfully removes small amounts of black revealing just the right amount of white to create the illusion of light emulating from city windows, street lamps, and automobile headlights. Brown’s incredibly detailed Blackboards at first appear to be night photographs, but upon closer inspection one discovers the amazing hand of the artist. Colin Brown’s romantic and beautiful images of New York capture the magic and vitality of the City. He brings to the viewer his profound and contemplative sense of solitude of the city he calls home.
In a Lightboard Brown is actually painting with Light. After composing his subject for the Lightboard on his computer using hundreds of his photographic images, Brown builds and prepares the surface of a LED light box. Using his oil paints as gels, he paints the surface of the box building luminous layers of transparent color to total layers of opacity. The final result is an unfathomable illuminated shimmering jewel -like aerial composition of sparkling New York City in the evening.

Colin Brown was born in Ithaca, N.Y. in 1965. He received his M.A. from NYU’s program in Painting in Venice, Italy. He has also attended the State University of New York at Purchase where he received his B.F.A. He and his wife Cara currently live with their two children, Gwyn and Luke, in New York City.