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Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, “The Pornography of Death”—Painting for Ian Curtis (copied from “Floating Cities” 1981 by Chris Foss), 1995 Oil on canvas, 86 ½ × 129 ¼ inches (220 × 328 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, “The Pornography of Death”—Painting for Ian Curtis (copied from “Floating Cities” 1981 by Chris Foss), 1995

Oil on canvas, 86 ½ × 129 ¼ inches (220 × 328 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, You Take My Place in This Showdown, 1996 Oil on canvas, 84 ⅝ × 126 ¾ inches (214.9 × 321.9 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, You Take My Place in This Showdown, 1996

Oil on canvas, 84 ⅝ × 126 ¾ inches (214.9 × 321.9 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, The Loves of Shepherds (after “Doublestar” by Tony Roberts), 2000 Oil on canvas, 86 ½ × 132 ¼ inches (219.5 × 336 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, The Loves of Shepherds (after “Doublestar” by Tony Roberts), 2000

Oil on canvas, 86 ½ × 132 ¼ inches (219.5 × 336 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Dirty, 2003 Oil on panel, 41 ¼ × 32 ¾ inches (105 × 83 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Dirty, 2003

Oil on panel, 41 ¼ × 32 ¾ inches (105 × 83 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Architecture and Morality, 2004 Oil on panel, 55 ⅛ × 38 ⅝ inches (140 × 98 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Architecture and Morality, 2004

Oil on panel, 55 ⅛ × 38 ⅝ inches (140 × 98 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Wild Horses, 2007 Oil on panel, 52 ⅜ × 40 ¼ inches (133 × 102 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Wild Horses, 2007

Oil on panel, 52 ⅜ × 40 ¼ inches (133 × 102 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Suffer Well, 2007 Oil on panel, 61 ⅞ × 47 ¼ inches (157 × 120 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Suffer Well, 2007

Oil on panel, 61 ⅞ × 47 ¼ inches (157 × 120 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Some Velvet Morning When I’m Straight I'm Going to Open Up Your Gates, 2007 Oil on panel, 87 ⅜ × 58 ⅜ inches (222 × 148 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Some Velvet Morning When I’m Straight I'm Going to Open Up Your Gates, 2007

Oil on panel, 87 ⅜ × 58 ⅜ inches (222 × 148 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Wooden Heart, 2008 Oil paint on acrylic medium on metal armature, 35 × 58 ⅜ × 27 ⅝ inches (89 × 148 × 70 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Wooden Heart, 2008

Oil paint on acrylic medium on metal armature, 35 × 58 ⅜ × 27 ⅝ inches (89 × 148 × 70 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Christina of Denmark, 2008 Oil on panel, 65 × 46 ⅞ inches (165 × 119 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Christina of Denmark, 2008

Oil on panel, 65 × 46 ⅞ inches (165 × 119 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Burlesque, 2008 Oil on panel, 48 ¼ × 79 ⅞ inches (122.5 × 203 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Burlesque, 2008

Oil on panel, 48 ¼ × 79 ⅞ inches (122.5 × 203 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Layered Portrait (after Urs Graf) 1, 2008 Etching on Velin Arches 300gsm paper, 15 ⅞ × 11 ⅞ inches (40.5 × 30 cm), edition of 30© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Layered Portrait (after Urs Graf) 1, 2008

Etching on Velin Arches 300gsm paper, 15 ⅞ × 11 ⅞ inches (40.5 × 30 cm), edition of 30
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Spearmint Rhino, 2009 Oil on panel, 76 ½ × 102 ½ inches (194 × 260 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Spearmint Rhino, 2009

Oil on panel, 76 ½ × 102 ½ inches (194 × 260 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Star Dust, 2009 Oil on panel, 60 ¾ × 48 inches (154 × 122 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Star Dust, 2009

Oil on panel, 60 ¾ × 48 inches (154 × 122 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Cactus Land, 2012 Oil on panel, 67 × 55 ⅞ inches (170 × 142 cm)© Glenn Brown. Photo: Mike Bruce

Glenn Brown, Cactus Land, 2012

Oil on panel, 67 × 55 ⅞ inches (170 × 142 cm)
© Glenn Brown. Photo: Mike Bruce

Glenn Brown, Drawing 39 (after Greuze), 2014 India ink on Pergamenata paper, 19 ¾ × 13 ¾ inches (50 × 35 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Drawing 39 (after Greuze), 2014

India ink on Pergamenata paper, 19 ¾ × 13 ¾ inches (50 × 35 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Marie Berna/Die Toteninsel (The Isle of the Dead), 2014 Oil on panel, 63 × 39 ⅜ inches (160 × 100 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Marie Berna/Die Toteninsel (The Isle of the Dead), 2014

Oil on panel, 63 × 39 ⅜ inches (160 × 100 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, The Glory of Spain, 2014 Oil paint over acrylic paint and bronze, 49 ¼ × 28 ⅜ × 28 ⅜ inches (125 × 72 × 72 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, The Glory of Spain, 2014

Oil paint over acrylic paint and bronze, 49 ¼ × 28 ⅜ × 28 ⅜ inches (125 × 72 × 72 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Woman II, 2015 Oil paint over acrylic, steel structure and bronze with marble base and vitrine, 38 ⅝ × 13 ¾ × 13 ¾ inches (98 × 35 × 35 cm)© Glenn Brown. Photo: Mike Bruce

Glenn Brown, Woman II, 2015

Oil paint over acrylic, steel structure and bronze with marble base and vitrine, 38 ⅝ × 13 ¾ × 13 ¾ inches (98 × 35 × 35 cm)
© Glenn Brown. Photo: Mike Bruce

Glenn Brown, Drawing 36 (after Flinck), 2015 India ink and acrylic on panel, 33 ¾ × 23 ⅝ inches (85.5 × 60 cm)© Glenn Brown. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Glenn Brown, Drawing 36 (after Flinck), 2015

India ink and acrylic on panel, 33 ¾ × 23 ⅝ inches (85.5 × 60 cm)
© Glenn Brown. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Glenn Brown, Drawing 6 (after Murillo/Murillo), 2015 India ink and acrylic on beech plywood panel, 30 × 19 ⅞ inches (76.1 × 50.5 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Drawing 6 (after Murillo/Murillo), 2015

India ink and acrylic on beech plywood panel, 30 × 19 ⅞ inches (76.1 × 50.5 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, On the Way to the Leisure Centre, 2017 Oil on panel, 48 ⅛ × 96 ⅛ inches (122 × 244 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, On the Way to the Leisure Centre, 2017

Oil on panel, 48 ⅛ × 96 ⅛ inches (122 × 244 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Children of the Revolution (after Rembrandt), 2017 India ink and acrylic on polyester film over cardboard, in Italian 17th-century carved and gilded overlapping leaf frame with later gilded arch-topped spandrel, 42 ¾ × 27 ¾ × 2 ⅛ inches (108.5 × 70.5 × 5.5 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Children of the Revolution (after Rembrandt), 2017

India ink and acrylic on polyester film over cardboard, in Italian 17th-century carved and gilded overlapping leaf frame with later gilded arch-topped spandrel, 42 ¾ × 27 ¾ × 2 ⅛ inches (108.5 × 70.5 × 5.5 cm)
© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Drawing 1 (after Bloemaert), 2018 India ink and acrylic on film over panel, in likely Genoese 17th-century fully carved frame with scrolling leaves, 30 ¾ × 35 ⅛ × 2 ⅜ inches (78 × 89.3 × 6 cm)© Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Drawing 1 (after Bloemaert), 2018

India ink and acrylic on film over panel, in likely Genoese 17th-century fully carved frame with scrolling leaves, 30 ¾ × 35 ⅛ × 2 ⅜ inches (78 × 89.3 × 6 cm)
© Glenn Brown

About

I like my paintings to have one foot in the grave, to be not quite of this world. For me they exist in a dream world, a world that is made up of all the accumulated images stored in our subconscious that coagulate and mutate when we sleep.
—Glenn Brown

Mining art history and popular culture, Glenn Brown has created an artistic language that eschews categorization, fusing a wide range of time periods and pictorial conventions through reference, appropriation, and precise attention to detail. His mannerist impulses stem from a desire to breathe new life into history, using its forms as vehicles for his exploration of paint.

As an art student at Goldsmiths College, London, in the 1980s, Brown wrestled with the idea that painting had reached its end, as artists, critics, and scholars were then proclaiming. Seeking a future for painting despite its historical baggage, he made illusionistic versions of the thickly painted works of Frank Auerbach and Karel Appel, rendering their layered impasto in smoothly detailed two-dimensional brushstrokes.

Brown sources images from the internet, books, and other printed materials, distorting and manipulating them. In the 1990s he created several paintings based on science fiction novels drawing inspiration from sci-fi illustrations of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the apocalyptic scenes created by painter and illustrator John Martin. In these works Brown combined panoramic and close-up views, a technique he would later apply to depictions of the body and flesh, alluding to works by Salvador Dalí, Willem de Kooning, Chaim Soutine, and others.

As a complement to his painting practice, he creates sculptures by accumulating thick layers of oil paint over structures or found bronze casts. Brown has also produced detailed drawings in which he further explores the uncanny juxtapositions seen in his paintings. Since 2013 he has increased his engagement with drawing’s tactility, using different types of lines, shadings, and strokes in order to reinterpret the age-old tradition of copying historical subjects as a learning tool. His drawings reinforce the importance of gesture, echoing the layered lines of Old Master sketches.

Many of Brown’s titles make reference to literature, film, or individuals. Though not overtly related to the content of the paintings, drawings, and sculptures they name, the titles assert a directness that parallels Brown’s subject matter. In this way, he combines textual and visual reference as a means to update art history and perception.

Exhibitions such as the British Museum’s Historical Baggage: Glenn Brown and His Sources (2018) have made the links between Brown’s works and those from which he draws inspiration even more apparent. The show paired early portraits based on prints by Rembrandt van Rijn and Lucian Freud with Brown’s 2012 series Half-Life, a new engagement with Rembrandt’s work, revealing Brown’s intricate technical evolution over the past decade.

Roe Ethridge's Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Spring 2023

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2023

The Spring 2023 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Roe Ethridge’s Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on its cover.

Glenn Brown: From the Inside Out

Glenn Brown: From the Inside Out

Novelist Andrew Winer reports on the formal, conceptual, historical, and philosophical perspectives embedded in Glenn Brown’s latest paintings and drawings. The two talked after the opening of the artist’s recent New York exhibition Glenn Brown: We’ll Keep On Dancing Till We Pay the Rent.

Glenn Brown in his studio

Glenn Brown: We’ll Keep On Dancing Till We Pay the Rent

In conjunction with his exhibition Glenn Brown: We’ll Keep On Dancing Till We Pay the Rent at Gagosian in New York, the artist sits down to discuss his new paintings, sculptures, and drawings.

Glenn Brown’s studio, London, 2021. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

In Conversation
Glenn Brown and Jacky Klein

Glenn Brown speaks with art historian Jacky Klein about working between mediums, his first finished painting of 2021, and the evolution of his artistic voice.

Augurs of Spring

Augurs of Spring

As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, Sydney Stutterheim reflects on the iconography and symbolism of the season in art both past and present.

Still from video Visions of the Self: Jenny Saville on Rembrandt

Visions of the Self: Jenny Saville on Rembrandt

Jenny Saville reveals the process behind her new self-portrait, painted in response to Rembrandt’s masterpiece Self-Portrait with Two Circles.

Glenn Brown and Xavier Bray

Gagosian Quarterly Talks
Glenn Brown and Xavier Bray

Touching on everything from the politics of taste to the vibratory character of lines, Glenn Brown and Xavier Bray, the director of the Wallace Collection, discuss Brown’s exhibition, Come to Dust, in London.

Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown

With preparations underway for an exhibition in London, Glenn Brown sat down with author Hari Kunzru to discuss Brown's artmaking process, the idea of the copy, and surprising overlaps between creating visual and literary works.

Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2018

Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2018

The Spring 2018 Gagosian Quarterly with a cover by Ed Ruscha is now available for order.

Glenn Brown Rembrandt: After Life

Glenn Brown Rembrandt: After Life

In this short film, Glenn Brown demonstrates his process in creating artworks for an exhibition at Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Amsterdam.

Fairs, Events & Announcements

Gagosian’s booth at West Bund Art & Design 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Zeng Fanzhi; © Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany 2023; © Spencer Sweeney; © Yayoi Kusama. Photo: Alessandro Wang

Art Fair

West Bund Art & Design 2023

November 9–12, 2023, booth A102
West Bund Art Center, Shanghai
www.westbundshanghai.com

Gagosian is pleased to participate in West Bund Art & Design with an extensive group presentation. The gallery will exhibit works by Harold Ancart, Georg Baselitz, Glenn Brown, Urs Fischer, Katharina Grosse, Hao Liang, Damien Hirst, Thomas Houseago, Alex Israel, Jia Aili, Anish Kapoor, Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Takashi Murakami & Virgil Abloh, Albert Oehlen, Nam June Paik, Ed Ruscha, Alexandria Smith, Spencer Sweeney, Cameron Welch, Jonas Wood, and Zeng Fanzhi.

Gagosian’s booth at West Bund Art & Design 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Zeng Fanzhi; © Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany 2023; © Spencer Sweeney; © Yayoi Kusama. Photo: Alessandro Wang

Left: Glenn Brown. Right: Jan Dalley

In Conversation

FT Weekend Festival 2023
Glenn Brown and Jan Dalley

Saturday, September 2, 2023, 2–2:45pm
Kenwood House, London
ukftweekendfestival.live.ft.com

As part of this year’s FT Weekend Festival in London, Glenn Brown will be in conversation with Financial Times arts editor Jan Dalley on the Arts Stage to discuss his recent paintings and layered portraits, as well as the opening of the Brown Collection last year, which is home to his art collection and archive as well as four floors of exhibition space. After the talk, Brown will sign copies of his new book, We’ll Keep On Dancing Till We Pay the Rent, in the Gagosian tent. The exhibition catalogue and other new Gagosian titles will be available for purchase with a 25% discount, and a selection of historical gallery publications will be offered for £10 each in conjunction with the Six Hundred Books display at the Gagosian Shop in Burlington Arcade.

Gagosian is partnering with the Financial Times to host the Arts Stage at the one-day festival where leading experts discuss the arts, music, literature, food, business, and technology, with recent Gagosian Quarterly films screened between sessions on the stage throughout the day.

Left: Glenn Brown. Right: Jan Dalley

Jadé Fadojutimi, As usual, the season’s showers tend to linger, 2023 © Jadé Fadojutimi

Art Fair

Art Basel Hong Kong 2023

March 22–25, 2023
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
www.artbasel.com

Gagosian is pleased to participate in Art Basel Hong Kong 2023 with a presentation of modern and contemporary works by international artists.

Jadé Fadojutimi, As usual, the season’s showers tend to linger, 2023 © Jadé Fadojutimi

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Museum Exhibitions

Glenn Brown, The Holy Bible, 2022 © Glenn Brown

On View

Dix und die Gegenwart

Through April 1, 2024
Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany
www.deichtorhallen.de

This exhibition, whose title translates to Dix and the Present, explores the work of Otto Dix (1891–1969) and the artist’s enduring influence. It focuses on the ostensibly apolitical work Dix created beginning in 1933, which was less aggressive than his radical and provocative paintings of the 1920s. His Nazi-era landscapes, commissioned portraits, and Christian allegories were instead subtle and subversive forms of contemporary social critique. The exhibition aims to reveal the shifting cultural and social parameters in the reception of Dix’s art, while also demonstrating how his oeuvre continues to fascinate more than forty contemporary artists. Work by Georg Baselitz, Glenn Brown, John Currin, Nan Goldin, and Anselm Kiefer is included.

Glenn Brown, The Holy Bible, 2022 © Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, On the Way to the Leisure Centre, 2017 © Glenn Brown

On View

Glenn Brown in
The Leisure Centre

Through August 3, 2024
Brown Collection, London
glenn-brown.co.uk

In The Leisure Centre Glenn Brown asks the question: “What is the point at which relaxation and non-functional activity allows the mind to freely wander, when we can indulge in activities or thoughts simply for the pure pleasure of doing so?” This exhibition shows work by Brown alongside artists from the Brown Collection—including Cornelis van Haarlem, Gaetano Gandolfi, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze, among others—inviting the viewer to become a flaneur, traveling through time and place around the rooms.

Glenn Brown, On the Way to the Leisure Centre, 2017 © Glenn Brown

Glenn Brown, Come All Ye Rolling Minstrels, 2009 © Glenn Brown

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Glenn Brown
The Real Thing

February 24–June 18, 2023
Landesmuseum Hannover, Germany
www.landesmuseum-hannover.de

This exhibition presents works from the museum’s collection, including paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, alongside paintings and drawings by Glenn Brown. Organizing the works into six curatorial groupings—animals, landscapes and trees, the nude, portraits, still lifes, and the artist—Brown juxtaposes his art with work by Jacopo Pontormo (1494–1557), Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), and Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), among others. Held across two major institutions in Hannover, Germany—the Sprengel Museum and Landesmuseum—the exhibition reimagines the museums’ permanent collections, inviting a consideration of the relationship between the art of the past and of the present.

Glenn Brown, Come All Ye Rolling Minstrels, 2009 © Glenn Brown

Installation view, Glenn Brown: The Real Thing, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany, February 24–June 18, 2023. Artwork © Glenn Brown

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Glenn Brown
The Real Thing

February 24–June 18, 2023
Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany
www.sprengel-museum.de

For this exhibition, which combines the work of old, modern, and contemporary masters across two major institutions in Hannover, Germany—the Sprengel Museum and LandesmuseumGlenn Brown reimagines the museums’ permanent collections, generating an enlightening conversation around the relationship between contemporary and historic art. The Sprengel Museum show consists of two parts: a solo presentation of formative paintings by Brown in the main room and thematic interventions within the permanent collection rooms, where Brown replaces selected works with those of his own, using categories such as color, material, realities, and faces to provide a narrative and a structure.

Installation view, Glenn Brown: The Real Thing, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany, February 24–June 18, 2023. Artwork © Glenn Brown

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Press

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