A discussion between Kathryn Andrews, Lisa Wainwright, John Yau and Dan Nadel (moderator)

Roger Brown (1941–1997, b. Hamilton, Alabama) is renowned for using a pop aesthetic to investigate a range of socio-political issues. Having completed, in addition to his studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a commercial design program at the American Academy of Art, Brown was aware of advertising’s vocabulary of images and modes of representation—a visual language he deftly inverted and subtly eroded. Influenced by comics, theatre interiors and architecture, Surrealism, Art Deco, machine-age design, and folk art, Brown cultivated a pop aesthetic which employed what John Yau has described as a “lexicon of motifs”—a repertoire he developed in a manner “as surefooted and daring as that of Willem de Kooning or Jasper Johns”*

While Brown has previously been primarily viewed through a regional lens—in relationship to Chicago, his Southern roots or California—this conversation, between artist Kathryn Andrews, scholar Lisa Wainwright, writer John Yau and curator/writer Dan Nadel, aims to draw a connection between Brown and the broader world: politics, popular culture, religion, and his contemporaries in the Pop Art movement.

*John Yau “Roger Brown and Spectacle” 15, Roger Brown ed. Sidney Lawrence

ABOUT ARTSY ONSITE: Artsy OnSite is a global series of events featuring the world’s most critically-acclaimed contemporary artists and current exhibitions. In collaboration with Artsy’s network of globally-renowned partner galleries, museums and other non-profit institutions, over thirty events have taken place since the initiative was launched in April 2015. OnSite events are conversations with artists, curator-led exhibition tours, studio visits, panel discussions, performances, film screenings, and book launches. Events have taken place in New York, Los Angeles, London, Brussels, Berlin, Munich, and Hong Kong. https://www.artsy.net/

This project is supported by the Roger Brown Study Collection of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

This is the first discussion in a fall symposium about Roger Brown, happening in concert with Kavi Gupta’s exhibition “Roger Brown & Andy Warhol.” The other discussion in this series are as follows:

ROGER BROWN: LAKE EFFECTS (MIDWESTERN DYSTOPIA)
Wednesday, October 19th, 2016, 6 pm
Ballroom, School of the Art Institute of Chicago | 112 S. Michigan Ave

ROGER BROWN: DECLINE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE (QUEER POLITICS)
Saturday, November 5th, 2016, 4 pm
Kavi Gupta | 219 N. Elizabeth St.

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Tags: Chicago, Dan Nadel, John Yau, Kathryn Andrews, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Lisa Wainwright, near west side, Roger Brown: Pop Artist Panel Discussion