Joan Brown: The Golden Age presents fourteen paintings and sculptures from 1981 to 1988, centering on the vibrant late work made in the decade before Brown's untimely death at fifty-two. Inspired in part by Henri Rousseau, the works feature flattened compositions and graphic directness, with unlikely animal companions — lion and lamb, peacock and snake, cat and rat — coexisting in peaceful harmony. Images drawn from disparate cultures and history are collaged together, including a self-portrait of Brown standing inside the mouth of an ancient Egyptian bolti fish, symbol of regeneration. Art, for Brown, was a mirror for her current state of being and a vehicle for awe.
