One of the most revered painters of his generation, Glenn Brown borrows from art history and popular culture, working from the images of Dalí, Auerbach, Rembrandt, science fiction illustrators and many others to investigate the languages of painting and how images are read by the viewer. Brown is fascinated by how reproductions of paintings distort the qualities of their originals. Size, colour, surface texture and brushwork are elements by which original works are transformed from the familiar into the alien. Working from books or projecting reproductions onto a blank picture surface, Brown wildly embellishes his source material. Naturalistic colour becomes putrid or kitsch, figures are elongated or enlarged into the grotesque and heavy impasto, although painstakingly copied, is rendered entirely flat. The same artistic procedure is adopted by the artist for his photographic prints. The titles of his works are often quotes from songs, such as the one entitled When I was seventeen, which is the opening line from the 1965 Frank Sinatra song It was a very good year. He also uses parts of original titles of old masters, for example, often depicting still life or landscapes. In this game of crossed quotes, the work recaptured is Youth Beautiful Youth (2008), previously featured in his solo exhibition at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in 2009, which takes inspiration from the painting San Pietro penitente by Guido Reni.

Glenn Brown was born in Hexham in 1966. From 1984 to 1992 he studied at Norwich School of Art, the Bath College of Higher Education and then trained at Goldsmith’s College. He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2000. Among his more recent solo exhibitions are: the Ludwig Museum, Budapest, 2010; TATE, Liverpool and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, 2009; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2008; Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2007; Serpentine Gallery, London, 2004. Among his more recent group shows are: Surface Reality, Laing Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear Museums, UK 2009; Beyond the Lens, Dominique Fiat Galleries, Paige, France, 2008; Attention to Detail, The Flag Art Foundation, New York, 2007; Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1732-1806: Orìgenes e influencias, de Rembrandt al siglo XXI, Obra Social Fundaciòn “la Caixa”, Barcelona; How to Improve the World: Sixty Years of British Art, Art Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London; Infinite Painting: Contemporary Painting and Global Realism, Villa Manin, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Udine, 2006; Big Bang: Destruction et creation dans l’art du XXe siècle, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2005; Sogni e conflitti. La dittatura dello spettatore. 50° Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione Italia, Giardini della Biennale, Venezia, 2003.

One of the most revered painters of his generation, Glenn Brown borrows from art history and popular culture, working from the images of Dalí, Auerbach, Rembrandt, science fiction illustrators and many others to investigate the languages of painting and how images are read by the viewer. Brown is fascinated by how reproductions of paintings distort the qualities of their originals. Size, colour, surface texture and brushwork are elements by which original works are transformed from the familiar into the alien. Working from books or projecting reproductions onto a blank picture surface, Brown wildly embellishes his source material. Naturalistic colour becomes putrid or kitsch, figures are elongated or enlarged into the grotesque and heavy impasto, although painstakingly copied, is rendered entirely flat. The same artistic procedure is adopted by the artist for his photographic prints. The titles of his works are often quotes from songs, such as the one entitled When I was seventeen, which is the opening line from the 1965 Frank Sinatra song It was a very good year. He also uses parts of original titles of old masters, for example, often depicting still life or landscapes. In this game of crossed quotes, the work recaptured is Youth Beautiful Youth (2008), previously featured in his solo exhibition at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in 2009, which takes inspiration from the painting San Pietro penitente by Guido Reni.

Glenn Brown was born in Hexham in 1966. From 1984 to 1992 he studied at Norwich School of Art, the Bath College of Higher Education and then trained at Goldsmith’s College. He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2000. Among his more recent solo exhibitions are: the Ludwig Museum, Budapest, 2010; TATE, Liverpool and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino, 2009; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2008; Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2007; Serpentine Gallery, London, 2004. Among his more recent group shows are: Surface Reality, Laing Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear Museums, UK 2009; Beyond the Lens, Dominique Fiat Galleries, Paige, France, 2008; Attention to Detail, The Flag Art Foundation, New York, 2007; Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1732-1806: Orìgenes e influencias, de Rembrandt al siglo XXI, Obra Social Fundaciòn “la Caixa”, Barcelona; How to Improve the World: Sixty Years of British Art, Art Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London; Infinite Painting: Contemporary Painting and Global Realism, Villa Manin, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Udine, 2006; Big Bang: Destruction et creation dans l’art du XXe siècle, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2005; Sogni e conflitti. La dittatura dello spettatore. 50° Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione Italia, Giardini della Biennale, Venezia, 2003.