Braque, Magritte and Brown

Are artists in Houston paying attention to Braque and Magritte, given the abundance of their work currently on view in the city? The answer appears to be yes, and not just painters, judging from photographer David A. Brown’s unveiling of recent single-exposure images in his trying to find my way series on Saturday at Jung Center. Brown name-checks the two modernists in ode to magritte and sometimes i want to be georges braque.

David A. Brown sometimes i want to be georges braque 34 x 80 in in commercial banner stand
David A. Brown
sometimes i want to be georges braque
34 x 80 in in commercial banner stand
Georges Braque, Barques de pêche (Fishing Boats), 1909, oil on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of Audrey Jones Beck. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Georges Braque, Barques de pêche (Fishing Boats), 1909, oil on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, gift of Audrey Jones Beck. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

I’d say the Braque affinity is especially strong–the spatial play, the push and pull–and that Brown’s photographic approach is at its most interesting when it suggests cubist, rather than surrealist, ways of seeing. ode to magritte feels like just that, an ode. He’s trying to be Braque in sometimes i want to be georges braque, and the resulting image packs a stronger punch.

David A. Brown ode to magritte 30 x 20 archival pigment print
David A. Brown
ode to magritte
30 x 20 archival pigment print

Brown’s show continues through March 28 at the Jung Center of Houston.