Hugh Brown
Allegedly: New Chainsaw Works
July - August, 2010
Opening Reception: July 17, 2010, 6-9pm

C2 Gallery
Bergamot Station Arts Center

Hugh Brown first cut his teeth as a chainsaw collector and punk rock aficionado; an unlikely pairing that spawned a Grammy award-winning music-packaging design artist and an obsessive appropriation artist compelled to insert chainsaw references into brilliant forgeries of Ed Ruscha, Jackson Pollack, Ed Keinholz, John Baldessari and dozens more contemporary art heavy hitters.

While the images stand on their own, there is humor and wit lurking within each Allegedly creation for the true art insider to uncover. Take the Hiroshi Sugimoto piece entitled Vista Theater (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) - Brown rented out the theatre and used a large format camera and an extremely long exposure to capture the entire film on a single print, just as Sugimoto did in his photographs of old American movie palaces and drive-ins as an expression of time. Or the Alexander Calder wire sculpture depicting a chainsaw held up by a three-person pyramid entitled Three Acrobats, One Chainsaw – a nod to both Calder’s primary medium and his fascination with the circus.

Each piece is as unique as the story behind it. He studied Hans Namuth’s footage of Pollock’s wrist movements, bought the same brand of gouache as Henri Mattisse and used Bruce Nauman’s neon fabricator to spell out Was/Saw in place of the iconic Raw/War. Not only are the works so convincing that many mistook them for authentic pieces when shown last year at the California State University Fullerton Grand Central Art Center but the process by which they were fabricated is an artistic expression entirely unto itself.

A photographer, printmaker and assemblage artist for over 35 years, Brown has had seven solo shows and many group shows including two at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and three at the Triton Museum of Art. But Brown’s standout achievement is a second place finish in the “Design a Chair for Barbie” competition sponsored by Vitra Design Museum, Metropolis Magazine, Mattell and W – not because of the second place finish but because the entry caused a fist fight amongst the judges.

Never boring, always controversial and now for the first time – for sale.


Recent Press:


Hugh Brown and the exhibition ALLEGEDLY is featured in the Los Angeles Times article
Art the Prompts a Smile, by Sharon Mizota, Sunday, August 15, 2010
View article

Read the review in JUXTAPOZ Magazine by Greg Escalante
read article

 

Hugh Brown
Ed Ruscha (Another one of them bikini and chainsaw movies, 2000), 2006
Screenprint on paper
Ed. of 15
23” x 28.5”

 

Hugh Brown
Jackson Pollock (Arterial Mist, 1950), 2009
Enamel, aluminum paint and oil on canvas
Unique
39.5” x 77”

 

Hugh Brown
Bruce Nauman (Was/Saw, 1970), 2008
Neon, glass tubing, wood, chainsaw parts, transformer, wire
Unique
67” x 57” x 15”

 

Hugh Brown
Vik Muniz (Chainsaw, from “Pictures of Stage Blood,” 2003), 2009
Digital type RA-4 print
Ed. of 10
12.5” x 23.5”

Hugh Brown
Henri Matisse (La Tronconneuse dans L’Aquarium, 1947), 2009
Gouache on paper collage
Unique
15.5” x 23.5”

Hugh Brown
Man Ray (Re-Cadeau, 1921), 2008
Iron and chainsaw chain
Unique
8” x 5”

 

Hugh Brown
Roy Lichtenstein (Why, Roy Darling, 1962), 2009
Screenprint on paper
Ed. of 12
21” x 30”

 

Hugh Brown
David Hockney (Saw at Howard and Catherine’s *now Anne’s, 1994), 1994
Polaroids on ragboard
Unique
11.5” x 17”

Hugh Brown
Damien Hirst [Chainsaw in the Cathedral, 2006), 2009
Digital type RA-4 print
Ed. of 5
18” x 13”

 

Hugh Brown
Joseph Cornell [Untitled (woodpecker habitat), 1946], 2008
Various woods, engraving, chainsaw chain, map, stamps, currency, rubber handle, rope
Unique
19” x 12” x 3.5”





Hugh Brown
Diane Arbus (Child with toy chainsaw in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, 1962), 2008
Gelatin silver print
Ed. of 15
14” x 14”





Hugh Brown
Arman (Accumulation of Chainsaws, 1980), 2008
Plastic wind-up saws, resin
Unique
16” x 10” x 3.5”

Hugh Brown
Harold Edgerton [Cutting the Card (not as) Quickly, 1964], 2008
Digital type RA-4 print
Ed. of 10
15.5” x 19”

Hugh Brown
Keith Haring (Untitled, 1985), 1995
Screenprint on paper
Ed. of 50
20” x 19”





Hugh Brown
David Levinthal (Who Would Win? from “Mein Quampf,” 1993), 2008
Digital type RA-4 print
Ed. of 7
19” x 18”





Hugh Brown
David Levinthal (Barbie saw, 1997), 2008
Digital type RA-4 print
Ed. of 7
21.5” x 18”

Hugh Brown
Man Ray (Gaby de Montberkely, 1951), 1975
Gelatin silver print
Ed. of 10
10” x 10”

Hugh Brown
Hans Namuth (Pollock’s Studio, Before, 1950), 2009
Digital type RA-4 print
Ed. of 10
7” x 7”

Hugh Brown
Paul Outerbridge (Tools with Blueprint, 1939), 2009
Digital type RA-4 print
Ed. of 10
17.5” x 14”




Hugh Brown
Lucio Fontana (Concetto spaziale, Attesa, 1965), 2008
Waterpaint and chainsaw lubricating oil on canvas
Unique
30” x 24”






Hugh Brown
Ed Kienholz (For Craftsman Chainsaw, 2007), 2008
Watercolor, rubber stamp ink on paper, galvanized steel, particle board
Unique / 3 Variations
12” x 16”

Hugh Brown
Lucas Samaras (Photo-Transformation, December 13, 1974), 1998
Altered Polaroid film
Unique
3” x 3”

Hugh Brown
Robert Mapplethorpe (Calla Lily plus, 1986), 1994
Digital type RA-4 print
Ed. of 12
19” x 18.5”