Gordon Brown (artist)
Gordon Brown (born April 7, 1958 in Iserlohn ) is a German artist who lives in Iserlohn. He mainly works as a sculptor with wood.
life and work
Gordon Brown spent the first years of childhood in the Canadian province of British Columbia and grew up mainly in Germany; his father was Canadian, his mother German. He learned the carpentry and wood carving trade, dealt autodidactically with freelance sculpture from 1985 to 1992 and studied object design from 1992 to 1995 at the University of Applied Sciences Dortmund with a focus on sculpture with a diploma from Professor Werner Nöfer . From 1997 to 1999 he had a teaching position in the field of design ( plastic design ) free and applied form at the FH Dortmund. He moved to Hamm in 1997 , set up a new studio there and works as a freelance sculptor. In 2003 he received the Dr. Emil Löhnberg Art Prize from the Kulturstiftung der Sparkasse Hamm and in 2004 a residency grant for southern France from the Aldegrever Society in Münster. He mainly works as a sculptor with the material wood. Some sculptures are in public space, for example the Museum Abtei Liesborn has bought a wooden object from its series of works “The Life of Boats”.
Brown lived for some time with the writer Marion Gay in Hamm.
The life of the boats
Gordon Brown works in series. The best known and most exhibited series is “The Life of Boats”. The sculptor has been working on the subject of boats since 1995. It is man's first vehicle and, for Brown, a symbol of exploring and pushing boundaries. It "serves him in a general way to make things aware that are changing" . The wooden sculpture “Mothership”, for example, is a ship that he filled with many small boats; it reminds the viewer of a seed pod. The artist works with different types of wood, some of which he sticks together; a few times the boat is abstracted and reduced to its skeleton. Brown processes his workpieces in many layers, including with chisels, chainsaws, sandpaper, Bunsen burners and angle grinders . In the end, his works are characterized by “clarity, concentration and lyrical beauty”.
Exhibitions
- 2008: Maximilianpark , Hamm
- 2007: Liesborn Abbey Museum
- 2007: Art Fair, Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 2005: Kamen City Museum
- 2005: Gustav Lübcke Museum, Hamm
- 2004: Gallery Münsterland
- 2004: Kunsthaus Kloster Gravenhorst
- 2001: Museum am Ostwall , Dortmund
- 2001: Bentlage Abbey , Rheine
- 1998: Arts Center Wrexham, Wales, Great Britain
- 1996: Künstlerhaus Dortmund
Books and catalogs
- Wood tide. Poetry: Marion Gay . Kunstverein Hamm and Maximilianpark, Hamm 2008, ISBN 978-3-000-25136-8 .
- Sculpture - spaces. Stadtmuseum Beckum 2000, ISBN 3-9806742-5-8 .
- The life of the boats. Fieldwork. Kunstverein Lippstadt, 1999, ISBN 3-9806707-2-4 .
literature
- Andrea Brockmann: Wood tides. In: Gordon Brown: Wood Tides. Hamm 2008, ISBN 978-3-000-25136-8 .
- Martin Gesing: Individual and Society. In: Sculpture - Spaces. Beckum 2000, ISBN 3-9806742-5-8 .
- Elvira Meisel-Kemper: The secret life of wooden boats. In: Münstersche Zeitung . November 3, 2001.
- Ellen Schwinzer: Gordon Brown. In: The life of the boats. Lippstadt 1999, ISBN 3-9806707-2-4 .
- Ralf Stiftel: Dance of the boats. Gordon Brown shows wood tides in Maximilianpark Hamm. In: Westfälischer Anzeiger . August 30, 2008.
- Ralf Stiftel: Dry laid boats. In: Westfälischer Anzeiger. July 2001.
Web links
- Literature by and about Gordon Brown in the catalog of the German National Library
- Gordon Brown website
- Portrait of Gordon Brown in the Kunstnetz NRW
Individual evidence
- ^ Martin Gesing: Sculpture - Spaces. Beckum 2000.
- Jump up ↑ Dance of the Boats. In: Westfälischer Anzeiger. August 30, 2008.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Brown, Gordon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 7, 1958 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Iserlohn |