A:LIST A Project of the Hyde Park Art Center

Roger Brown

Artist Information

Year of Birth: 1941, Hamilton, Alabama
Year of Death: 1998

Medium(s) Worked in:
Painting
Sculpture
Printmaking

Selected Exhibitions, Collections, and Bibliography:
Download file

Represented by:
The Roger Brown Estate Painting Collection of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago/Roger Brown Study Collection is represented by Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago IL

Education:
1970, MFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1968, BFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1962-4, attended American Academy of Art

HPAC Exhibitions

1970, 1969, 1968 The False Image
1989 50th Anniversary Exhibition

Artist Bio

Roger Brown was born on December 10, 1941, and was raised in Alabama. During childhood Brown grew especially close to his grand and great-grandparents, instilling an early interest in his family’s origins, which later flowered in extensive research into his family’s genealogy. Brown developed a deep interest in the material culture of the South, especially for folk art and hand made, functional objects. In adolescent and teen years he was influenced by the aesthetic of the comics, theatre architecture and interiors, and streamlined Art Deco and machine-age design. His religious upbringing in the independent, fundamentalist Church of Christ, was formative and lasting. In later years Brown became known as an astute and intuitive collector. Memories of his early experiences can be seen as his first, and perhaps most important collection. He retained them, distilled them into their essential aspects, and they became the visual and psychological engine for much of his work throughout his thirty-odd year career.

Brown developed a deep interest in the material culture of the South, especially for folk art and hand made, functional objects.

Brown moved to Chicago in 1962, where he earned a certificate in commercial design, prior to beginning serious studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. At SAIC he was introduced to a range of art historical periods and genres, as well as antique and thrift stores, amusement parks, and other places of visual and cultural interest. Seminal influences at SAIC came from teachers Ray Yoshida and Whitney Halstead, and from the energy of fellow students. Brown became associated with a group of artists that were first introduced in various group exhibits, and later defined by the term “Chicago Imagist”. Brown earned his BFA in 1968 and his MFA in 1970, both at SAIC. In the late 1960s Brown was introduced to works by self-taught artists. He became a fierce champion for the validity of art that originated from beyond the mainstream.

In 1970 art dealer Phyllis Kind first exhibited Brown’s work, and was to represent his work for 27 years. Known as a painter, Brown also made prints and sculpture, designed sets for theatre and opera, and murals for architectural settings. Major retrospectives of his work were mounted at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in 1980, and at The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 1987. Brown’s critical acclaim grew in the 1970s and 80s. He became known for responding adroitly to the fabric of 20th Century life, through works that addressed a range of subjects and issues, including: natural, architectural, and urban landscapes, the dichotomy of nature and culture, disasters of all types, current and political events, social, religious, and popular culture, autobiographical, personal, and sexual issues, the art world in many guises, cosmology, mortality, history, mythology, transformation, transportation, and the weather.

He became known for responding adroitly to the fabric of 20th Century life, through works that addressed a range of subjects and issues…

Brown’s rich artistic career was at once intensely original and personal, while also exemplifying a significant aspect of Chicago’s art history. Brown died on November 22, 1997. Through gifts and bequests SAIC became the primary repository for Brown’s personal, professional, and artistic effects, including three homes and collections, and a large collection of his paintings.

Selected Bibliography