As part of an ongoing series featuring contributors from all over Southern California, below international art dealer Delia Cabral gives an account of her recent visit to the studio of artist Tony Brown.
An external view night view of Tony’s Down Town LA installation of X-rays
One of the very best parts of being who I am and doing what I do is going on studio visits. I get to go into artist’s studios and see them in their natural habitat and their art fresh off, or still on, the wall. I have decided to share these experiences on my website deliacabral.com and also here. The first artist is TONY BROWN.
I gave Tony a solo show in 2008 at my DCA Fine Art gallery in Santa Monica. I love the way he sees the world. He takes what has been forgotten or passed over and then carefully rearranges it, so we can see how beautiful the unexpected can be.
Interior view the Down Town LA x-ray installation, Daylight.
Tony rearranges objects so that we see them anew, as something else. He deconstructs, organizes, reconstructs, outsides in and insides out. Object as object: as shape, color, texture, and not as chairs, windows, tables, desks, or beds.
A visit to Tony’s studio is a journey of discovery. There is treasure everywhere. Tony is an artist of many layers; he finds and rebuilds but also paints and builds from scratch.
My son Boyd standing in front of a piece made from windows of craftsman homes that were destroyed all over Los Angeles.
The overlooked. Here is an old news stand anew!
There is a whole other side to Tony Brown’s work, his fabulous, large-scale collages, or rather, inlays that are the result of removal and replacement of paper. What I love in these is how absence guides us to see. We look at advertisements all the time; in our culture these images are almost like static in the background of our lives. Tony takes such adverts and cuts, subtracts and plays with negative space, so we can see the underlying body language. Sometimes strange conversations and moods rise to the surface of the paper. Very cool stuff!
Tony Brown is a very talented artist, even now making his mark in the art world. I love and I collect his work. Everyone, I feel, should have a Tony Brown. Let me know, I can help you get one.
ABOUT DELIA CABRAL
Delia Cabral is active in many capacities in the art world including: art dealer, exhibition designer, gallery owner (DCA), company founder (DCA Style) and event producer. Cabral’s company DCA Fine Art, focuses on international contemporary art, quickly gaining a reputation for putting on dynamic, risk-taking shows.
She currently lives in Los Angeles.
