LaKela Brown

LaKela Brown (born 1982) is a Brooklyn-based artist working in sculpture and plaster relief.[1] Her work is strongly influenced by hip-hop culture and African American aesthetics.

Education

Brown was born in Detroit, Michigan. She received a BFA in 2005 from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.[1]

Work

Brown's sculptural relief works evoke ancient art forms such as hieroglyphic wall carvings or cuneiform relief tablets, with imagery that references 1990s hip-hop culture. In her pieces Bamboo Earrings, At Least Two Pair (2016) and Pattern Repeated in Reverse (2018) door-knocker hoop earrings are posed as celebratory symbols of female empowerment and maturity; embedded in other works are rope chain necklaces, gold- capped teeth, and chicken heads.[2]

Brown's pieces are presented as artifacts from another era that have been discovered and placed on display for an examination that is as much anthropological as aesthetic. Plaster relief slabs are installed alongside their bas-relief counterparts, and in some instances (Material Relief [2018]) three-dimensional cast sculptures are placed alongside their molds.[3]

By hearkening back to ancient Greco-Roman methods of mark making, Brown presents a meditation on how objects are historicized, represented, and abstracted in a museological context. Recontextualizing everyday objects from her childhood as fine art confers a different status upon them, and celebrates the emotions that these objects conjure: desire, aspiration, hope.

Solo exhibitions

Brown's first solo exhibitions took place in 2007 at Moka Gallery, Chicago, and the Alumni/Faculty Hall of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. She has since exhibited her work at Jackie Klempay, Brooklyn, and Cave Gallery, Detroit, and her work was featured throughout Rockefeller Center during summer 2019.[4][5] In 2018 she had her first international exhibition, Untitled at Lars Friedrich Gallery, Berlin, as well as Material Relief at Reyes | Finn, Detroit.[6] She was exhibited in Surface Possessions at 56 Henry in summer 2019.[7]

Residencies

Brown was a faculty artist in residence at Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan in 2018. She has also been in residence at Mano y Mente in Tulsa Rosa, New Mexico, and the Art on the Move program in the Detroit area.

References
  1. "About/contact". lakelabrown.com. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  2. Warwick, Steven. "LaKela Brown, Lars Friedrich Gallery". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  3. "A Meditation on Identity through Chickenheads and Chains". Hyperallergic. 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  4. "LAKELA BROWN AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER". Art Production Fund. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  5. Behringer, David (2019-08-20). "Finding the Art of LaKela Brown at Rockefeller Center". Design Milk. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  6. "Reyes Finn | LaKela Brown: Material Relief". reyesfinn.com. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  7. Smith, Roberta; Cotter, Holland; Farago, Jason; Schwendener, Martha; Steinhauer, Jillian; Heinrich, Will (2019-04-25). "Over 40 Art Shows to See Right Now". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.