PRESS RELEASE

(New Orleans, LA) FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY is proud to present Relational Beings, the second gallery solo exhibition of California’s Bay Area-based artist Amanda Joy Brown. This exhibition unveils more than twenty of her latest paintings, including works from her characteristic “Crowds” series as well as the introduction of new stylized floral works. The conversation formed between densely patterned botanical and figural forms enfolds the singular into a broader continuity. Brown’s drip technique while simultaneously drawing and painting creates fluid and calligraphic lines that are both imperfect and intentional. Relational Beings will be on view from 17 July through 31 August 2024 with an opening reception on Saturday 3 August coinciding with the 30th Anniversary of White Linen Night - the Arts District of New Orleans’ largest, annual event during the August First Saturday Gallery Openings from 5 – 9 PM.

 

Brown discusses her latest work . . 

We are all singular; we are all interconnected and interdependent. We cross each other’s paths, finding ourselves assembled around activities and events that remind us of our commonalities and broader community. When a group of people share a physical space around an idea or event, the experience can range from the mundane to cacophonous to the transcendent. In all of these situations there is a hive mind that emerges with the potential of “collective effervescence” a unifying phenomenon that creates a sum greater than its parts. No matter the experience and situation, in a shared space, we are reflectors and amplifiers of one another. The cultivated botanical world plays a role in communication and connection. The gardens people tend are generous gestures to anyone who is invited to enjoy them, and all are havens and for wildlife, part of their ecosystems. Floral arrangements can mean many things in different contexts- they are ephemeral tokens, markers of occasions, sentiments, desires, and sometimes, simply and essentially, a shared aesthetic gesture. They are visible manifestations of the invisible.

 

Amanda Joy Brown is a visual artist and educator based in the Bay Area. After studying Art and French at Harding University in Arkansas, Brown earned her MFA in the painting program at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She completed a month-long residency at the Vermont Studio Center before moving to Nashville, TN where she found a studio community at Ground Foor Gallery+ Studios, and continued to exhibit in around the US as well as southern France. She now resides in California with her husband and two daughters, working out of her home studio and creating plein air excursions to paint the beautiful landscape of the East Bay every chance she gets. Her work is exhibited and collected internationally.

 

For more information, press or sales inquiries please contact Gallery Director Matthew Weldon Showman at 504.343.6827 or matthew@ferrarashowman.com. Please join the conversation with FSG on Facebook (@FerraraShowmanGallery), Twitter (@FerraraShowman), and Instagram (@FerraraShowmanGallery) via the hashtags: #AmandaJoyBrown, #FerraraShowmanGallery, and #ArtsDistrictNewOrleans.