Owen Brown

I was taught in the figurative tradition, but I also work abstractly: I don’t always have a theme to put forth. I don’t know how I will finish when I start, except there is something within that I want to express, something I want to build, something I want to say. Painting is not speech, even whe...

I was taught in the figurative tradition, but I also work abstractly: I don’t always have a theme to put forth. I don’t know how I will finish when I start, except there is something within that I want to express, something I want to build, something I want to say. Painting is not speech, even when it shows a scene. We leap to story; my subject matter is the story behind story.

My work is about longing, time, emotion, loss, recovery. I keep these in mind:

From the American poet Mary Oliver:

“Attention is the beginning of devotion.”

And from the German mystic Holderlin:

“Where danger lies, there deliverance also grows.”

These help me understand the process a bit, where painting begins to reveal itself. I would paint daily, and I do so, although much of creation lies in wait for the artist. Conversely, the artist must wait for something to happen. Stillness is as important as action.

On my good days I am a painter. On my best, I am someone trying to uncover something new, so that we can have it within our range of humanity. That should be enough.