Grant Brownlow
- Indiana
- Paper
My artworks are internal explorations of the postindustrial midwestern psyche – reveries or daydreams of self, encompassed in the degraded influences of the past and the rusted landscape of the present. The resulting compositions confront the conflict between the today and yesterday of the region,...Read More
ABOUT THE ARTIST
STATEMENT
My artworks are internal explorations of the postindustrial midwestern psyche – reveries or daydreams of self, encompassed in the degraded influences of the past and the rusted landscape of the present. The resulting compositions confront the conflict between the today and yesterday of the region, a reconciliation of my shifting identity within the post-industrial ruins that surround me and the cultural ruins that form me.
In the work, past and present collide, dogpiling imagery from my life and upbringing in postindustrial Michigan - plastics manufacturing plants, automotive racetracks, pull-barn garages, and yesterday’s signage covering the work like faded tattoos on the neighborhood mechanic. Combining printmaking and painting across paper and panel, these works integrate mediums historically used in or around manufacturing including Enamel, Silkscreen and Lithography.
Exploring these depictions, I find it inevitable that the here-and- now blends with then-and-there that I am reflecting upon. An ongoing dialogue with the ideas of a bygone past I never knew – nostalgic reflections on the Fordist boom and it’s monolithic machines of lore.
Often combining eras and auras, the artworks create a separation between moments of thought, chaos and calm simultaneously existing within self during reflection. Varying from quiet and tenderly rendered depictions to blurs of color, the works reflect the varied state involved in introspective analysis – at times anxious and convoluted, others calm, clear and contained. The importance of these works is not in the elements themselves but their union - the importance is in the mass and the mess.
BIO
Grant M. Brownlow is a Michigan born and raised interdisciplinary artist and educator working in printmaking and mixed media print-centered paintings. Grant was raised in Grand Rapids, MI studied at Albion College in Albion, Michigan (2019) and received his MFA from Purdue University (2024). His work spans across painting and printmaking mediums including stone lithography, silkscreen, relief and monotype resulting in introspective layered explorations of the post-industrial present.
EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS/COMMISSIONS
Exhibitions;
2024
Postchrome, Solo Exhibition, Purdue Galleries, West Lafayette, IN
44th National Print Exhibition, Artlink, Fort Wayne, IN (Curator Sachi Yanari-Rizzo)
Press Play: National Juried Exhibition, Buckham Gallery, Flint, MI (Curator Janice McCoy)
Collage/Assemblage: Beautiful and Strange Fragmentation Juried Exhibition, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL (Curator David Reif)
2023
Roy Presents: Grant Brownlow, Sarah Hess, Jeff Schofield, Eric Tuck-Macalla. Roy G. Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH
Celebrate Print: Juried Print Exhibition, Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, KS. (Curator: Taro Takizawa)
SYNT Flat Files: Spring Cleaning, The Front Gallery, New York, NY
Frogman’s Staff Exhibition, Ana Mendieta Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Optical Impermanence - III, University of Iowa Visual Arts Building, (3 works), Iowa City, IA
Limited Edition, The Workshop, Columbus, IN
The Art of Speed II, Gallery Forty-Two, Indianapolis, IN (Curator: Mary Morgan)
2022
Small Works 2022, Roy G. Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH
Optical Impermanence International, Impact 12 International Printmaking Conference, (2 works), Bristol, United Kingdom
Seven Deadly Sins:Greed Frogman’s Staff Portfolio 2022, Frogman’s Printmaking Workshop, Omaha, NE. Organizer: Jeremy Menard, Director
SLEEK: The Art of The Helmet, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, Indianapolis, IN (Curator: Amiah Mimms)
The Art of Speed, Gallery Forty-Two, Indianapolis, IN (Curator: Mary Morgan)
Abstraction II, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL (Juror: David Reif)
Our Shared Future, SGCI Printmaking Conference, Madison, WI
2021
Optical Impermanence, SGCI Madison, WI (Organizer: Jennifer Scheuer)
Optical Impermanence, Purdue University - Patti and Rusty Rueff Gallery, group
exhibition, West Lafayette, IN (Organizer: Jennifer Scheuer)
2021 Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition (Honorable Mention Award), The
Scarab Club, Detroit, MI (Juror: Tylon J. Sawyer)
Go Make a Thing, ARC Gallery Chicago, IL (Juror: Jessica Gondek)
BLINK – One Night Only Art Show, Brew Detroit, (two-person exhibition),
Detroit, MI
Art in The Fast Lane, Vestige Concept Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Open Call 2021, Black Box, Dearborn, MI
35th West Michigan Art Competition, LowellArts, Lowell, MI
(Juror: Richard Brinn)
2020
Send It, Hard Gallery, Collaborative group exhibition, Detroit, MI
2019
Art Buddies Vol. 12, Hard Gallery, Group Exhibition, Detroit, MI
EDUCATION
2019 BA Albion College
2024 MFA Purdue University
AWARDS
2022 Delta Phi Delta Scholarship, Purdue University,
2022 West Lafayette, IN
2022 Frogman’s Printmaking Workshop Assistantship, Omaha, NE
2022 Anderson Ranch Merit-Based Scholarship, Snowmass Village, CO
2021 Purdue Promise Grant, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2021 Honorable Mention, 2021 Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition, Scarab Club, Detroit, MI
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2021-2024 Graduate Teaching Assistant (Instructor of Record)
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2021-2024 Printshop Studio Technician
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
TAGS
Abstract, Automotive, Industrial, Collage, Mixed Media, Printmaking, Large Paintings