Gary Hugh Brown

Gary Hugh Brown
Gary Brown
Born	December 19, 1941(1941-12-19) Evansville, Indiana, US
Works	Mayan Journey Of Gary Brown at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Awards	The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, Travel Grant

Gary Hugh Brown (born December 12, 1941) is an American artist, painter, draftsman, and Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His work is included in permanent collections in the United States, including the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Art, Design & Architecture Museum. He has had over thirty-five one-person shows and has participated in 200 group exhibitions in Japan, Ireland, Brazil, and the United States.

Early life

Brown was born on December 19, 1941, in Evansville, Indiana. He is the son of Earl Hugh Brown (1917-2010) and Dorothy Aileen Lynch (1919-2020). Brown's grandfather and Father were commercial union painters who significantly influenced and supported his interest in art and his focus on painting and draftsmanship. His maternal grandfather shared his knowledge of the ancient indigenous people, especially the Cahokia Empire. This gave Brown a deep understanding and appreciation of the value and impact of ancient history.

Brown went to McCutchanville grade school and North high school in Evansville, Indiana. At 16, he was staff artist on The North Star High School weekly paper, and was already planning to make a career in commercial art. In 1958, Brown was an Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science Purchase Award winner and designed and painted sets for the Mesker Amphitheatre in Evansville. In 1959, he graduated from North High School.

Brown attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado in 1962. While attending the University he held a one-man exhibit at Schmuckler's Book Store titled Experimentations in Textural Surfaces. The paintings were completed after a summer in Arizona and Mexico. He received a BA degree at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana in 1963. DePauw University has the Gary Hugh Brown papers, a collection of news clippings and biography.

Gary Brown Self Portrait at age 22 from his European sketchbook journal, 1964

Brown's drawing of equestrian bronze for the Piazza della Annunziata

As a result of the The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Travel Grant Brown awarded in 1964 and 1965, he traveled to Florence, Italy to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze with painting professor Pietro Annigoni (1910-1988). Brown started one of many handmade journals with artwork on his time in Italy. Brown did a drawing of the Giambologna's equestrian bronze at the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata when he was in Florence.

Everyone goes to the Piazza and the Bridge of Sighs but if you really look, you find these wonderful, small places off the beaten track. Being an observer makes people gravitate toward you. How many shutters I heard click and yet no one stayed for more than a few seconds. I stalked da Vinci and Michelangelo and Dürer. The journal is my secret friend, enemy, counselor-definitely my map and at times a thief. It takes memory for us, the continuous accounting. Morally straight, it doesn't lie. It sharpens you, your dreams, and your eyes stay wide as a child's.

—Gary H. Brown

In 1966, Brown received a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. Painter and Professor John Wilde chaired his MFA committee.

Career

Brown was Professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Art Studio Department for 40 years, from 1966-2006. For another seven years he taught drawing, painting, and journaling as professor Emeritus, during the summer at the College of Creative Studies at UCSB.

Brown has served as professor of painting and drawing in the Art Studio Department at UCSB for three decades. His inspiration has been Thomas Eakins, "particularly by his role as an American artist/teacher, and by his studio and classwork with the figure." His teaching career is distinguished by the numerous artists he has influenced or mentored; painters John Bommer and Patrick Angus are two students who come to mind.

—Pepperdine student Steve North

Artist, professor, Vietnam war: 1960s

After completing his MFA in 1966, Brown, at the age of 24, worked as an artist in Wisconsin, exhibiting his art at several galleries in the area. In that same year he accepted a position as assistant professor at UCSB.

Fold Variations: 1965-1984

Folded Drawing by Gary H. Brown (1967).

Brown's Fold Variations depict light and shadow falling on illusionistic geomatic folds. In September 1966, Brown had a one-person exhibition at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science in Evansville, Indiana, where he was reviewed by the The Courier-Journal. His work included Als ich kan (As I Can), a large folding six-panel screen in mixed drawing media 79" x 146" (1965-1966), and drawings done during his two years in Italy.

Brown exhibited his fold variations that included a poster Folded Drawings, raw pigment & charcoal on linen paper 29" x 22" in 1967, held at the Fleischer-Anhalt gallery exhibition on La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, which was his first exhibition in Los Angeles.

The Folded Drawings of Gary H. Brown are soft and sensuous organic forms on linen and paper, sensitive and delicate chords in the symphony of art. A sincere enthusiasm for drawing prompt Brown to consider himself first a draughtsman, then an artist, "Intrigued by the folding panels that recall much of the manner of Japanese screens."

—Los Angeles Evening Citizen News

Gary Brown's one-man exhibition at Ventura College

From February 3 through 21, 1967, Brown had his first California one-man exhibition at Ventura College for the New Media Gallery in Ventura, California.

Brown Portraits series started in 1968 with Marci, charcoal, pastel, and spray paint, 24” x 18”, collection of Mrs. Frank Hamilton, Santa Barbara, California. His first assignment to all new students was the execution of a self-portrait and the discipline of keeping a journal on unlined sketchbooks.

From 1969 to 1970, Brown resided in New York City where he did large acrylic spray paintings on linen, with repeated folding planes.

Vietnam War

In 1968, the UCSB Faculty Committee, to help end the Vietnam War (1955-1975), commissioned Brown to do a antiwar poster, which became the Johnson's Baby Powder Made In U.S.A. made of three colors silkscreen on silver paper with a photograph by Felix Greene. Although the UCSB faculty did not accept the work, it was published in Milan, Italy and distributed worldwide except in the U.S.A. The "Johnson" referred to in the poster is President Lyndon B. Johnson, who escalated the Vietnam War, “Johnson’s Baby Powder” refers to Napalm, and the Johnson & Johnson familiar advertising logo was used for political art purpose for the first time.

By 1969, Brown had printed over 11 books, many with lithographic illustrations with text by friends including English poet Peter Whigham. He conducted a seminar course with Whigham entitled The Poet, The Artist, and the Book.

Residencies: 1970s

In the 1970s, Brown went on five residencies, which included Santa Cruz, California, Pajaro Dunes, California, Brookston, Indiana, New Harmony, Indiana, and Waterford/Dublin, Ireland.

In February 1971, Brown's folded lithographic prints were displayed at the Plaza Gallery of Fine Arts in Oxnard, California. His work was influenced by his travels to Mount Athos in Greece in 1964, to Mexico, Latin America, Chicago, Russia, Turkey, New York, and San Francisco.

In February 1972, Brown was awarded fifth prize in the Eighth Tyler National art exhibit, that showed at the Tyler Museum of Art in Tyler, Texas. He used pastel-colored strips of nylon entitled Abandon Ship Station No. 6, which was one of 25 works selected to exhibit from 2,000 U.S. entries. By this time Brown had been included in more than 40 exhibitions and 6 one-man shows.

Mayan Inca Journey

In the summer of 1971, Brown traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, where he lived with a group of Zapotec Indians. In his Mayan Inca Journey, he drew the Mexican people and landscapes. Some of these drawings were shown at the University of Santa Clara and at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA).

A lithographic poster called Mayan Journey Of Gary Brown with a self-portrait, watercolor, 22" x 32,” was the announcement for an exhibition at the Saisset Art Gallery, at the Santa Clara University, November 30-Decmeber 20, 1971. This poster is now in SBMA's permanent collection. A year later, another poster, titled Mayan Journey of Gary Brown, was shown at SBMA, January 8-February 2, 1972, Monte Alban Child, 1971, charcoal and coffee, collection of Mrs. Virginia Nugent, Evansville, Indiana. This poster is now in Art, Design & Architecture Museum (AD&A) Museum’s permanent collection at UCSB. Other works include Angel, 1971, charcoal with coffee wash, 30 x 22”, collection of the SBMA, collection of Ms. Ala Story; and Young Man With Parrot, 1972, charcoal, coffee and watercolor, 30 x 22”, collection of Brian Stowell, Reading, Massachusetts.

Mayan Journey by Gary H. Brown (1972)

Angel by Gary H. Brown (1971)

Mayan Journey - Self Portrait of Gary Brown (1971)

The portrait studies are vivid, strong characterizations achieved with great simplicity. They combine wit and compassion with an occasional delight in the grotesque.

— Richard Ames

Another exhibition in 1972, selected by Richard Ames a critic for the Santa Barbara News-Press, was at the Gallery de Silva in Montecito Village. It included Landscape Reflection, a self-portrait of Brown done in 1971.

Other works

Brown did the drawings of the Santa Cruz Mountain Poems, by poet and author Morton Marcus in November 1972. An edition of 1000 copies sold out and a 20th anniversary reprint of the book was published in 1992.

Inca Hand, Comsky Gallery (1974)

Palm Reader (1974)

Brown worked on his Hand Series from 1972 to 1978. In 1972, his Farm Hand, a watercolor and pastel, 30" x 22," was in the collection of art works at the Upper Market Street Gallery in San Francisco.

Brown's Handmade Paper series appeared in the mid-seventies. He did the work Palm Reader in 1974, a video photoprint with tarlatan on handmade paper, 24 x 37," which was on display at a solo exhibit at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art in August 1976. The exhibit displayed mixed media prints, drawings, and paper constructions.

In 1974, Brown went on sabbatical to Ireland at the invitation of Professor Paul Funge, artist, Director of the Waterford School of Art where Brown was artist-in-residence. In Dublin he had a one person exhibition at the United Arts Club, one of the oldest art clubs in Europe.

Brown's Nature Series were done between 1974 and 1984. In 1978, at Santa Cruz Island off the coast of Santa Barbara, he drew Santa Cruz Island Fox (Urocyon littoralis), charcoal, 30 X 22”, collection of Helene Donnely, London, England. Others examples include Prickley Pear (1974), sepia watercolor pencil, 22 x 30;” Sea Rockets (1982), sepia watercolor pencil, 21 x 26”; and Lotus Land (1978), charcoal and ink on Kozo-shi paper, 26`1/2 ” x 37 3/4”.

He did the centerfold sketchbook for several books by Noel Young/Capra Press in 1974, (published under the pseudonym "Leon Elder"). These included the books Hot Tubs and Free Beaches.

Happy Unbirthday Lewis Carroll (1975)

In 1975, Brown gave a public slide lecture on the artist's illustrations of Alice in Wonderland as part of the UCSB Faculty Lecture Series, entitled Happy Unbirthday Lewis Carroll. He was able to get the UCSB Arts Library to purchase the Salvador Dalí tome of Alice In Wonderland (now in Special Collections). He did programs shaped like the Rabbit’s white gloves, titled The Manhattan Project’s Scripted Version of Alice, for the February 20 through March 1, 1975, Studio Theatre in Santa Barbara, California. He did the sets, costumes, and the programs with students of the Theater and Art Departments.

Brown did his Show Of Hands series in the 1970s, which were watercolors of hands of many kinds of people. In May 1976, Brown traveled to San Francisco for a solo exhibit called, Hands Across The Heavens, at the Source Gallery in San Francisco. It included a Hand Poster, watermarked with handmade paper done in 1979 for the Source Gallery in San Francisco. His Jaguar hand prints were used for the cover of Stonecloud, a publication by Dan Ilves in 1978. Inside the book were several other works by Brown.

Brown was commissioned by the New Harmony Historic Trust to celebrate the USA Bicentennial in 1976. He did a large poster called, New Harmony 1814-1976, printed by master printer John Begley, a lithograph of three colors 41 5/8 x 28 5/8”.

The Labyrinths paintings extend over twenty years. In 1977, Brown exhibited Labyrinths, at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and at the Evansville Museum of Arts and Science. His Knossos Labyrinth was done with hot melt glue, charcoal, graphite, silver foil and paper, 37 x 24." It was a gift from the ARCO Collection, now in the SBMA permanent collection.

Brown's Cross Series were painted mainly in 1977 and consist of seven works. Examples included Latin Cross, 1977, charcoal and graphite on Chiri-gami, 39 1/2 x 241/2”; 5 X’s, 1977, graphite and charcoal aluminum and silver leaf on Shibu-gami, a persimmon skin stencil paper and metallic, 37 X 25”; and Gate, 1977, graphite, charcoal, conte, aluminum, bronze and gold with silver leaf on Izumo-shi, 25 x 37”.

He exhibited Grotesques At Lotusland (1979), sepia watercolor pencil, Arches paper, 22 X 32,” at Gallery de Silva in Santa Barbara. Lotusland is a non-profit botanical garden located in Montecito, near Santa Barbara. The same year, he exhibited Scribe (1979), charcoal, pastel, watercolor, metal and rhoplex on Hosho-shi paper, 78 x 42”, in a collection of the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries in Los Angeles.

Brown's Figure Studies were done between 1975 to 1985 that included the tarot deck. The Gymnast Tarot (Two of Rings), was done in 1979, and is charcoal pencil on Hosho-shi handmade scroll paper, 79 x 42”, collection of Victor McCaslin, Fillmore, California. Other characters in the Tarot deck included, Fortune (1972), 79 x 42," Tarot Series, on Hosho-shi handmade scholl paper; Hanged Man (1979), charcoal pencil on Hosho-shi paper, hung as a scroll, 79 x 42”, a study in suspended animation; Scribe, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, silver leaf (1979); Charioteer (1979-1980), 78 x 42,” charcoal, conte, ink and graphite; and The Tower, a more radical Tarot study. A smaller version of Fortune, the size of a playing card mounted on a panel, 2009 12 x 16", is in AD&A Museum's permanent collection at UCSB.

Poster New Harmony 1814-1976 (1976)

Lotusland, sepia watercolor pencil (1979)

Scribe, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, metal (1979)

Charioteer, charcoal, conte, ink and graphite (1979-1980)

Germany and Japan: 1980s

In the 1980s, Brown went on two residencies, which included West Germany and Japan.

In 1980, Brown accepted an invitation as artist-in-residence at the Atelierhaus Verein Worpswede Art Center in West Germany. In Germany, he did a lithographic print entitled, Physiognomy of different facial shapes and expressions. The next year Brown took a trip to Gabon, in Central Africa where a friend, Blaine Barrick, was serving in the Peace Corps. There, Brown did a sketchbook and the work titled African, (1981) charcoal, acrylic and rhoplex on Stonehenge paper 99 x 50".

Anthology (2018)

Brown continued his exhibitions in Santa Barbara, California. In 1982, his exhibition, Anthology opened at the Art/Life Gallery on State Street in Santa Barbara. "We see Gary H. Brown re-emerged as a vital painter for Santa Barbara, Ventura, and L.A. counties, as well as for Southwest China" said Dr. Sophia G Kidd. Included were Brown's drawings of the Devereaux Series sketchbooks and prints at the Art/Life Gallery.

In 1984 through 2000, Brown donated 95 art objects to the AD&A Museum's permanent collection located on the campus of the UCSB.

In the fall of 1985, Brown did his residency at Art Space, Artists' Union in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan. He was a guest of Shozo Shimamoto (1928–2013), Professor of Western Painting, Kyoto University and Director of A U Art Space. While he was at Art Space he gave a lecture entitled, Physical and Spiritual Dislocation.

Tarot: Entombment (Unknown Soldier), 1981

During his residency at Art Space, his life size Tarot deck was shown in group exhibitions in Okayama’s ZAP Gallery (1985), the National Museum of Modern Art (1989), and Osaka’s ABC Gallery (1986). He visited numerous cultural sites, museums, temples in the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kanazawa, Takayama, Nashiko, and Nikko.

Gary Brown is a prolific artist. For more than two decades, his studio has overflowed into exhibition after exhibition, almost any place and any time; he shows in new, small, provincial galleries as willingly as in large, established museums. He is adventuresome and has left almost no two-dimensional medium untried: he draws, he paints, he illustrates and designs, and he has made prints and collages. He is the master of all these media, even when they burst into three-dimensions as they sometimes do.

— Alfred Moir
Professor of Art History, UCSB

The catalogue Gary H. Brown: A Survey Exhibition 1965-1985 was published for the Art Space Japan Exhibition and includes the work of Brown at Art Space. The catalogue has a preface by Shozo Shimamoto and an introduction by Alfred Moir. It includes chapters on Fold Variations (1965-1984), Cross Series (1977), Labyrinths (1976-1985), Portraits (1968-1984), Mayan Inca Journey (1971-1972), Nature Series (1974-1984), Show Of Hands (1972-1976), Handmade Paper (1973-1975), and Figure Studies (1975-1985).

The book Dreamworks, an interdisciplinary quarterly, published in 1986, has a chapter entitled, Images From A Portfolio by Gary Brown that includes two drawings, Landscape Reflection, (1971), and Nightmare, (1981).

Gay Advocacy: 1990s

In the 1990s, Brown was a pivotal activist supporting Gay Advocacy (now known as the LGBT movement) through the UC System. In addition to creating his own work to promote a deeper understanding of the AIDS crisis, using his visual language to confront ignorance about gender identity, stigma, and discrimination, Brown ensured that his work would be exhibited to diverse audiences. He utilized his platform within the UC system to promote other gay artists denied the opportunity to show their work based on controversial subject matter. During this time, Brown had one-man exhibits and gave public lectures in Japan, Ireland, and the United States, defending gay rights for dignity and equality.

This show marks the culmination of a long period in my work. The pieces are powerfully personal and provide both coherent experience and an internal.

— Gary H. Brown
Allan Hancock College Art Gallery

In November 1991, Brown had a solo exhibition at the Allan Hancock College Art Gallery in Santa Maria, California where he displayed paintings, drawings, and monoprints.

On January 27, 1992, Brown produced the first one-person show entitled New York Native, for social realist artist Patrick Angus at the College of Creative Studies (CCS) Gallery. CCS is one of the undergraduate colleges at the UCSB. The show broke attendance records. After the show the CCS Provost and Director of Student Health pulled all funding and promotion of Patrick's show considering it "inappropriate," and opted to create an age restriction for entry to 18 and posted a guard to enforce this restriction. Reacting to this censorship and discrimination, Brown acted urgently, contacting the artist David Hockney who in turn purchased several of Patrick's work in the show and promoted attendance. At a time of widespread homophobia, Brown legally formalized his domestic partnership, making him the first professor in the entire UC system to promote same-sex marriage in this way. Brown was on the first AIDS committee which was headed by the Director of Student Health. Brown resigned feeling the committee was not actively combating homophobia and discrimination. There was urgency to move AIDS discussion and awareness into action in a substantive way, through public policy, social movement, and public opinion.

In 1993, Brown was at the Press Liaison Awards for Art Against AIDS, at the Venice Biennale exhibition during a semester in Venice where he rented an apartment.

In 1995, Brown exhibited drawings, amd paintings at the Emison Art Center at the DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.

Walking Through The Valley Of Death (1997)

In 1997, Brown was commissioned to create the 1997 AIDS Chronicles that was presented at a reception at the Sam Francis Gallery in Santa Monica, hosted at the Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI). The ICI's long-running AIDS-related project was the AIDS Chronicles, which spanned the years 1993-2014. At this time, the piece, Walking Through The Valley Of Death, was done with colored pencils conté charcoal and watercolor, 50 x 42".

Brown said: "Over the course of the last decade, much of my work has centered on issues of life, love, loss and death. This recent work has been influenced by the AIDS crisis. A public art commission Fountain of Tears; Courtyard of Hope was completed at the entrance to Sarah House, a Santa Barbara AIDS Hospice facility."

Tea Fire: 2000s

In the 2000s, Brown continued his artistic and political response to the AIDS crisis, retired from UCSB, his Father died, he was divorced, and lost his home and life's work in the Tea Fire in Santa Barbara. Brown continued to do residencies in Providence, Rhode Island and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 2001, David Leddick wrote about Brown in his book Male Nude Now: New Visions for the 21st Century.

Gary H. Brown is a master of the sketch, or to be more precise, the sketchbook. A painter, watercolorist, and draftsman, he has traveled with a sketchbook since childhood. His work, which recalls the etchings of Albrecht Dürer and Jacques-Louis David, has an emotional immediacy that would arguably be lost in a more finished drawing or painting. Brown makes no attempt to fit in with a modern style; he is distinguished from his predecessors only by his personal idiosyncrasies. Brown teaches in the art studio department of the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has had over thirty-five one-person shows and has participated in 200 group exhibitions. For the past decade his work has focused on the AIDS crisis and its attendant feelings of loss.

— David Leddick

Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man is a 2003 documentary about George Whitman, that was directed by Benjamin Sutherland and Gonzague Pichelin, in which Brown is a “talking head.”

In the Tea Fire of November 2008, Brown lost his home and everything it, including his art collection. Brown donated a small print in 2008 to AD&A a few weeks prior to the blaze. After the Tea Fire destroyed his home, Brown showed A Replacement Residence, architectural plans of his new residence, illustrations, and colored pencil renditions at the James A. Schwalbach Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Baraboo, Wisconsin, from November 5 to December 14, 2012. Tom Kress did the plans and permits for Brown's new home after the fire.

In April 2009, an exhibit, Signs of His Times, honored Brown's commitment to AD&A and UCSB by highlighting selections from the gifts he had made to the museum since 1984. The exhibition ran from April 8 to June 14, 2009. The works that were on display corresponded to Brown's years of teaching at UCSB, from the 1960s to 2009. The exhibition included selections of Brown's own works, which demonstrated his background in figurative drawing and presented his most recent work of art.

Brown lives in Santa Barbara, with his partner artist Robert W. Smart. After 47 years of teaching, he now spends his time on drawing, journaling, reading, and gardening. In Sept/Oct 2016, Brown did a sketchbook when he traveled with Smart to Greece. They went to Delphi, the Cyclades island of Amorgos, the Acropolis Museum, and Istanbul, Turkey on a separate trip. In the summer of 2017, Brown continued his sketchbooks when he went to Crab Lake in Wisconsin.

Brown exhibited at the Art City Gallery in Ventura, California from May 19 through June 23 2018 for the Bad Exhibition: Value in Art. Anthology 2018 is now in the AD&A permanent collection at UCSB. In December 2020, Brown submitted a video at the 2020 SCREAM online exhibition for the LBCC Art Gallery in Long Beach City College Art Gallery.

Since 2020, Brown has been working with the Fourth Dimension Studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico with master printmaker Michael McCabe. He has done three sessions, the first in January 2020, with Surf's Up, monotype on Rives BFK, 32 x 22” (2020) and other prints; and the second session in March 2021, with deep indigo blue ink, in Kiss, monotype, image size 24" X 16” printed on 30" x 22,” cream Rives BFK France (2021); Rhino, monotype, image size 24 X 16”, printed on 30 x 22” white Rives BFK France (2021); and Red Tongue, monotype with chine colle, image size 24 X 16”, printed on 30" x 22” white Rives BFK France (2021).

Surf's Up monotype (2020)

Kiss, monotype (2021)

Rhino monotype (2021)

Red Tongue monotype (2021)

Residencies, 1974-2022

• Fourth Dimension Studio, Santa Fe, New Mexico with master printmaker Michael McCabe (2020, 2021 & 2022)
• Nicholson File Art Studios, ceramic residency, David Allen, advisor, Providence, Rhode Island (2020, 2021, & 2022)
• Nijmegen, Netherlands (2000)
• Art Space Japan, Artist Union, Mishinomija Hyogo, Japan (1985)
• Atelierhaus Verein Worpswede Art Center, West Germany (1980)
• New Harmony Historical Trust, Bi-Centennial Residency (with Richard Meier), New Harmony, Indiana (1976)
• Twinrocker Paper Company, Brookston, Indiana (1975)
• United Arts Club, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, Ireland (1975)
• International Institute of Experimental Printmaking, Santa Cruz, California (1974)
• Community of Pajero Dunes California (1974)

Reviews

Recognized as innovative and creative in the classroom, Brown revels in the art of teaching. By painting the musculature on the model before the students begin drawing, he illustrates concepts of anatomy to his figure drawing class. He is also known for his use of tattooed or pierced bodies, obese bodies, dwarves, and yogis as models, both in the classroom and in his studio. Over the course of the last decade much of Brown's work has centered on issues of life, love, loss, and death. This body of work has been heavily influenced by the AIDS crisis. The loss of colleagues and friends has inspired pointed and poignant insights into the nature of art and the process of living. His art demonstrates what he teaches and what he sees. "Sleeping, Not Dead" is a charcoal drawing of the studio assistant napping. Lying in the pose of the corpse, the face of the model is open, safe, and vulnerable. The mystery of sleep is our closest relative to the mystery of death. Brown renders that mystery elegantly in this drawing. His training as a classical draftsman is revealed in this work as is his love for the act of drawing.

— Dr. Sophia G Kidd for the Bad Exhibition with Chinese visiting artists

• The Independent, January 30, 1997, "ArtScope," by D.J. Palladino
• LA Weekly, February 16, 1996. "Vietnam 101, Remnants from the Posters Wars," by Robbie Conal, pp. 37-38
• Los Angeles Times/Magazine, February 4, 1996, "Graphic Details. This Art of War," by Kristine McKenna
• Santa Barbara News-Press, October 25, 1995, "Hospice Courtyard Fete"
• Santa Barbara News-Press, June 22, 1995, "Exhibit Extended"
• The Independent, April 20, 1995, "Face Value," by Lee Ann Stiff
• Santa Barbara News-Press/Scene, March 31, 1995, "Museum Does About Faces," by Joan Crowder
• Los Angeles Times/Ventura County, October 12, 1994, "Two Sobering Looks at the Ravages of AIDS," review by Josef Woodard
• Santa Barbara News-Press, July 24, 1994, "Sarah House Built with Love, Care," by Kathy A. Price
• Montecito Life, July 7, 1994, "Sarah House Offers Hope for Persons with AIDS," by Fred Scott
• The Independent/Arts/Art Scope, April 28, 1994, "Sarah House Opens with New Logo and Fountain"
• Santa Barbara News-Press, April 25, 1994, "Sarah House: Second AIDS Home to Open," by Scott Moore
• The Bulletin, April 1994, "Sarah and Steve and the Miracle at Sarah House," by Jim Cook, photos by Scott Moore
• Santa Barbara News-Press/Scene, January 14, 1994, "From the Gritty to the Sublime," by Joan Crowder
• Montecito Life, January 13, 1994, "University Faculty Exhibit Features Diverse Art Works"
• The Independent, January 13, 1994, "Tactile Goodies," by Christian Lincoln, Santa Barbara News-Press/ Scene, June 18, 1993, "Remembering Great Dates," by Michael Darling
• Santa Barbara News-Press, May 21, 1993, "Monotypes and Panoramas by Michael Darling
• The Independent, May 20, 1993, "Monotypes by Six," by Dena Hawes
• Santa Barbara News-Press/Scene, October 2, 1992, "Opening Windows to AIDS Awareness"
• Santa Barbara Metro, May 14, 1992, "Poet, Artist, Re-release Acclaimed Work" by David Mister
• Daily Nexus, April 17, 1992, "From Tibet to UCSB, Yoga Satisfies." by Allison Dunn
• Ventura College Press, February 25, 1992, "Artist Displays Computerized Images" by Jaime Moreno
• New York Native, January 27, 1992, "Patrick Angus's first one-man show alarms officials at University of California, Santa Barbara," by Douglas Turnbaugh
• Banner Graphic, November 18. 1991. "French Makes Gift to Swope Museum"
• Daily Nexus, October 11, 1991, "Art Professors Show Off What They Do After Class," by Tabea Linhard
• News Press, October 4, 1991, "Those Who Teach Can Also Do," by Joan Crowder
• Daily Nexus, October 3, 1991, The Art of UCSB, by Christian Lincoln
• Terre Haute Tribune, September 29, 1991, "Swope acquires 65 works from Greencastle printmaker," by Edward R. Quick
• The Evansville Courier, June 9, 1991, "Realism exhibition to open," p. F-1
• The Sunday Star-Ledger, April 28, 1991, One More Time
• The Press Courier, October 4, 1990, "Dual exhibits open AIDS month events," by Lisa McKinnon, p. 5
• The Ventura County Star-Free Press, October 2, 1990, p. B-1, "Silent Echoes," Artists with AIDS, and others fill Ventura College galleries, by Elena Jarvis
• Ventura College Press, September 26, 1990, Vol 65, No. I, "Ventura College Observes AIDS Awareness," by Carmen Guerra
• Santa Barbara News-Press, August 26, 1990, p. 1, "Professor restores bachelor bungalow," by Kathy Price
• Santa Barbara News-Press Scene, July 20, 1990, p. 24 "Art Walkabout, Santa Barbara Style"

Solo exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions have been shown in Tokyo & Nishinomiya, Japan; Dublin, Ireland; Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, California; New York City; and Seattle, Washington, USA.

• Signs of His Times Exhibit, Art, Design & Architecture Museum (2009)
• Allan Hancock College Art Gallery (1991)
• Art Space, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan (1985)
• Figures, Forms & Exercises, De La Guerra Gallery, Santa Barbara (1984)
• Psychotropes, Art/Life Gallery, Santa Barbara (1982)
• Life Line, Santa Barbara City College Art Gallery (1979)
• Lotusland, Gallery de Silva, Santa Barbara (1979)
• Watercolors From The Richness and Complexity of Life, Gallery de Silva, Santa Barbara (1979)
• Paper Into Art, Source Gallery, San Francisco (1978)
• Labyrinths, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and Evansville Museum of Arts and Science (1977)
• New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and displayed prints, drawings, and paper constructions (1976).
• Hands Across The Heavens, Source Gallery, San Francisco (1976)
• Casted Watercolors, Comsky Gallery, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills (1975)
• The Extended Hand, The United Arts Club, Dublin, Ireland (1974)
• Show Of Hands/Handiwork In Various Media, Comsky Gallery, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills (1974-1975)
• Inca Journey, Chapman College, Orange, California (1973)
• Santa Cruz Mountain Drawing, Upper Market Street Gallery, San Francisco (1972)
• Mayan Journey of Gary Brown, De Saisset Gallery, University of Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara Museum of Art (1971-1972)
• Tentaculi 2, James D. Kennedy Gallery, Holy Names College (1972)
• Ghost Riders in the Sky, Utah Museum of Fine Arts (1970)
• Folded Drawings, Fleischer-Anhalt gallery, Los Angeles (1967)
• Gary Brown, Ventura College, New Media Gallery, Venutra, California (1966, 1967)
• European Work, Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science (1966)
• MFA, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1965)
• Felix Landau Gallery (1966-1968), Los Angeles, California
• Experimentations in Textural Surfaces, Schmuckler's Book Store, Boulder, Colorado (1962)

Public collections

• Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California
• Art, Design & Architecture Museum, Goleta, California
• National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution
• 20th Century Fox
• Atlantic Richfield Corporation, Los Angeles, California
• Biblioteca Municipal Araraguara, Brasil
• DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana
• Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin
• Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science (NEA Purchase Award)
• Glenbow Art Museum, Alberta, Canada
• George Eastman House (International Museum of Photography)
• Mills College Library
• New York Public Library (Special Press Collection, Rare Books Division)
• Pasadena Museum of Modern Art
• Salk Institute, La Jolla, California
• Santa Barbara City College
• Tyler Museum of Art, Texas
• University of California, Santa Barbara
• Utah Museum of Fine Arts (NEA Purchase Award)
• One Institute, USC, Los Angeles, Califorina
• Scribe, collection of the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries, Los Angeles (1979)
• Villa Lila, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Publications

Books

• Selection of journals (2000)
• Gary H. Brown: A Survey Exhibition 1965-1985
• Gary H. Brown: Artist File John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
• Drawing From Life, The Journal As Art (2005)
• Vanitas (Anubis Press), sketchbook of 1980-1982
• Papermaking (Watson-Guptill), by Jules Heller, 1978, P. 113 color reproduction with text
• Music Of The Troubadours (Ross-Erikson), figurative alphabet and numerals, typographic designer, Provencal series, edited by Peter Whigham, (1979)
• Posters Of Protest and Revolution (Adams & Dart, Bath, Somerset, England) selected and reviewed by Maurice Richards, (1979), pp. 22 and 29, Poster reproduced Date #211
• Hands Across The Heavens (Twinrocker), portfolio based on golden section, handmade paper, 1975
• Poem In Progress (Dryad Press, San Francisco), poems by John Logan, (1975)
• Wave (Anubis Press), bio-feedback drawings, 1974
• Free Beaches (Capra Press), by Leon Elder, 1974
• Jaguar (Anubis Press), boxed portfolio with coverlet, prints processed 3M "Color-in-Color" Systems I & II prints, 1973
• Santa Cruz Mountain Poems (Capra Press), poems by Morton Marcus, (3 editions 1972–1992)
• Where The Oceans Cover Us (Capra Press), poems by Morton Marcus, (1972), title page portrait illustration of Morton Marcus
• The Blue Winged Bee (Anvil Press Poetry, London), poem by Peter Whigham 1969, dust jacket and frontispiece drawing
• Adonis & Venus (Unicorn Press and Anvil Press Poetry), poem by Peter Jay, 1968 based on Bion's Elegy for Adonis and the Virgil of Venus
• The Dolphin With The Revolver In Its Teeth (Unicorn Press) poems by George Hitchcock, artwork by Gary H. Brown in the opening pages is silk-screened in blue on tissue (1967)
• 4 Women (Work In Progress), four short stories by Edward Looms, 1967, cover, illustrations and typography
• Catfish Goodbye (1966), poems by Tim Reynolds, illustrated with six offset prints by Gary H. Brown, limited edition of 50 copies signed by Reynolds and Brown

Catalogs

• Decade of Protest: Political Posters From the United States. Vietnam and Cuba, 1965-1975, Smart Art Press, with Santa Monica Track 16 Gallery & the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (1966)
• Out Auction, limited edition blueprinted souvenir catalog designed by John Luckett
• Drawings Of The Human Head, exhibition catalog, Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, Colorado, (1989)
• John Bommer/VIBGYOR, memorial exhibition catalog organized for Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, (1988)
• AU (Art Unidentified), ten-year survey of art exhibitions, performances, and residencies at Artists Union, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan

Posters

• Physiognomy, (1980), lithograph, Bremen, Germany
• Figurative Alphabet, (1979), Ross-Erikson publisher
• Nautilus Labyrinth, (1978), Source Gallery, San Francisco with Twinrocker Paper Company
• New Harmony: 1814-1976, (1976) lithograph of three colors commissioned by Historic New Harmony Bi-Centennial
• Mayan Journey, (1972), limited edition print, commissioned by the Santa Barbara Museum
• Johnson's Baby Powder/Made in U.S.A., (1968), three color silkscreen on a photograph by Felix Greene, world-wide distribution

Public lectures

• The Importance of Being an Earnest Artist, Hawkins House, Dublin, Ireland (1997)
• Roots, Recent Work and Thoughts, Emison Art Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana (1995)
• Body of Evidence, Institute of Gay & Lesbian Education, Los Angeles (1993)
• Enigma, The Phyllis Rothman Gallery, Fairleigh Dickson University, New Jersey (1991)
• Introduction of Christo with brief history of Robert Thomas, 1st Robert Thomas Memorial Lecture, UCSB (1991)
• Southern California Art and Artists, Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria (1991)
• Realism Today, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Lecture, Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science, Indiana (1991)
• Physical and Spiritual Dislocation, Art Space, Nishinomiya, Japan (1995)
• Drawing Today," College Art Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco (1981)
• Strictly Academic? Atelierhaus, Worpswedse, Germany (1980)
• The Extended Hand, The Unified Arts Club, Dublin, Ireland (1975)
• Happy Unbirthday Lewis Carroll, UCSB Faculty Lecture Series (1975)
• In Search of Ancient Mexico, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (1972)

Set design

• Repeat Performance, UCSB Studio Theater (1976)
• Alice in Wonderland, UCSB Studio Theater (1975)
• Orpheus, by Jean Cocteau, Park Theater (sets and costumes) (1972)
• Set Designer for Mesker Memorial Amphitheater, Evansville, Indiana (1960-63)

Film/video

• Paint it Black, Vestron Pictures, featured film art credit, assistant production designer (1989)
• 1st Robert Thomas Memorial Lecture, Christo: The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and the U.S.A., Isla Vista Theater, introduction of Christo with brief history of Robert Thomas (1991)
• A Brief History of Realism lecture given on May 6, 1991, at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science as judge of "Realism Today Exhibition" sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation (1991)
• Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man (2003)

Honors

• Golden Key International Honour Society, 1995
• Who's Who in the West, 1995
• The International Directory of Distinguished Leadership, 1995
• Sarah House commission: "Courtyard of Hope and Fountain of Tears." 1994-1995
• Press Liaison, Venice Biennale: Art Against AIDS, 1993
• Juror, Santa Barbara Art Association, 1992
• Judge, "Realism Today" 9th annual competition sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb, 1991
• Awarded "Lifetime Membership Forever" by the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara, Contemporary Arts Forum, 1988
• Who's Who in American Art, (since 1984)
• Who's Who by International Biographical Center, Cambridge, England American Artists: An * Illustrated Survey of American Contemporaries; Krantz Company Publishers, Chicago, IL, 1985
• Intramural Grants, UCSB Academic Senate Research: "Artist - in Residence, Lecture, Exhibition and Sabbatical in Ireland, 1997; and in Japan, 1985 "Formulas for Oil Painting" 1984, "New direction in an Old Discipline: figurative Oil Painting," 1983
• College of Letters & Science Department Grant: "Drawing Laboratory", 1985
• Instructional Improvement Grant: Animation Class, 1983 -1984, resulting in the paper cut-out animation film " Fred and Spot", which received national screening in Animation Tournament Tour, 1985-1986
• UC Innovative Teaching Grants, "Papermaking Laboratory," 1979-1982
• Faculty, College of Creative Studies, Invited appointment, 1984-1985
• Juror, Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation, 1982
• UC Regent's Creative Art Fellowship, 1978
• UC Institute for Creative Art Fellowship, 1977
• Center for Book Art, Hand Papermakers Conference, NYC, Travel Grant, 1977
• Statewide Liaison Committee on Creative Arts, 1971-1973
• National Endowment of the Arts Purchase by the Evansville Museum of Art and Science, 1975
• Eigth Tyler National art exhibit, Tyler Museum of Art in Tyler, Texas (1972)
• Committee to Rescue Italian Art, 1967
• The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, European Travel Study Grant, 1963-1964
• Museum Purchase Award winner, Evansville (1958)

See also

• Printmaking
• List of American artists 1900 and after

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Gary Hugh Brown

• University of California, Santa Barbara General Catalog 2007/2008

Category:1941 births Category:Painters from California Category:People from Indiana Category:20th-century American painters Category:21st-century American painters Category:American painters Category:Living people