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Matthew Browne
Born in London in 1959, Matthew Browne graduated with an Honours Degree
in Painting from the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in 1982. In 1999 he
received a Master of Fine Arts from the Auckland University School of Fine
Arts, Elam.
Browne's paintings continually display echoes of the work of the British
Modernists that he studied under. Initially concerned with the physical process of painting, Browne
increasingly focused on organic, sweeping gestures across a monochromatic
ground. The calligraphic marks and chosen colours were intended to transcend
the intellect in order to establish a connection with primal instincts.
As he states: “I have been
most interested in the complexities of the human condition and in the various
levels of cerebral consciousness and sensation that strike such a delicate
balance in order for us to exist and co-exist with one another". He
adds: “the power of colour
lies in its ability to transcend the intellect, even momentarily, to encourage
a more primal response”. In this manner, Browne holds firm parallels
with the American Abstract Expressionists and particularly the early work of Barnett Newman with his focus
on primordial instinct and the universal unconscious.
Retaining his interest in the human condition, Browne subsequently began
to pare back his vocabulary of
forms, embarking upon a journey of reduction and refinement. The resultant
paintings displayed a smooth and unblemished ground overlaid by an opaque
vertical followed by a delicate and transparent horizontal veil of colour.
The introduction to this period was illustrated in Browne’s 2002 exhibition at
ARTIS Gallery entitled Collective.
Browne's successful exhibition at ARTIS Gallery in 2005, Rollercoaster,
revealed a dramatic shift away from the spare linearity of his previous series,
with an energetic physicality of approach was re-embraced.
The importance of the artistic process in his recent paintings is
evident in Browne's assertion that "it is a momentarily tense introduction as I begin each piece, for I
am painting blind and am unsure of what will follow. Each work begins as a
clear slate (tabula rasa) and then over time an image and form appears. It is
only when the work is nearing completion that I come anywhere near being able
to title it, prompted by the forms and sensations revealed by the
process." Nevertheless, his works continue to successfully retain an element
of the linear in their energetically worked forms and biomorphic shapes.
Browne's most recent exhibitions have shown an increased interest in the power of the expressive line
with Browne’s hand leaving its trail as it weaves and dances over the canvas.
Ultimately, Browne's artistic transitions and developments manage to retain a
thread of continuity through his exploration of the potential power of linear
and chromatic elements, through
his sustained focus on the delicate harmony existing between polarities of the
unconscious and conscious mind and through the visible reactions of impulse and
deliberation.
Matthew Browne has been exhibiting solo since 1986 and has work in
private collections in New Zealand, Australia, England, Denmark, Singapore and
the United States. In New Zealand he is represented in the permanent
collections of The James Wallace Arts Trust and the Parliamentary Collection,
Parliament Buildings, Wellington. Browne also has work in the collection of The
Royal Overseas League, London.
Past Exhibitions
Collective
Rollercoaster
Recent Painting by Matthew Browne 2003
2005/6 Summer Exhibition
The Domino Effect
Other Worlds: a playful take on abstraction
Christmas Exhibition 2007
A Model Assembly
Mercurial Space
See Visions and Dream Dreams
Phantasmagoria
Works on Paper
Re-Form 22
Re-Form 11
Re-Form 24
See Saw 4
See Saw 10
See Saw 11
See Saw 19
See Saw 20
See Saw 21
Seesaw 22
Phantasmagoria Series 7
Phantasmagoria Series 12
Phantasmagoria Series 14
Phantasmagoria Series 28
Phantasmagoria Series 41
Phantasmagoria Series 51
Publications
Matthew Browne Recent Painting
Received on March 7 2013.
From website called Artis Gallery
