if ART Gallery Presents Expressive Geometric Abstraction of Ashlynn Browning for the Fourth Time

Mar 9, 2016

Ashlynn Browning’s geometric abstract paintings possess an inviting earnestness. Seen in a group, the works feel welcoming, pulling the viewer in toward a deeper, one-on-one interaction. Contemplation of the individual images culminates in a sense of dimensionality and space. Although highly individualized, her paintings share a common vocabulary of line and form that’s uniquely human, evoking crystallization, sedimentation and industrialization, in an imagined space between natural and manufactured worlds.

The straightforward sincerity in Browning’s work is echoed in the way she speaks about her process. “My goal is to strike a balance of structure and accident,” Browning says. Part of her process involves subconscious mark making in the Abstract Expressionist style, intuitively building marks upon marks, without reference to anything outside the painting. Then at a point when it feels appropriate, she shifts and engages in an intentional contemplation of the evolving imagery, and plans her next actions. She calls her process a mix between “deliberation and instinct.” Browning explains, “Bold color is set against muted colors, geometric forms mix with organic ones and pattern and texture play off smooth color fields. These are variables that I mix and layer in multiple stages until a resonant image appears.”

Building Blocks

This Friday, 11 March, in Columbia, South Carolina, if ART Gallery will hold an opening reception for “Building Blocks,” a solo exhibition of Browning’s new paintings. About her new work, Browning describes her evolving process as an artist. She describes her earlier work as presenting abstract forms as what she describes as “stand-ins for figures.” Says Browning, “(The forms) represented implied narratives as they stood hesitant, crooked and brooding or upright and boldly assured. Each one showed a side of myself.”

With this new body of work, Browning says she is drawn more toward an investigation of the concept of place. She says, “I have been experimenting with stacking and aligning forms and exploring the relationships between them…they exist in groupings and in a more architectural context.”

Browning’s Abstract Expressionist roots are evident in her references to the subconscious, universality of her work. She explains, “The many layers in each piece speak both to the history of the painting’s creation as well as to the hidden parts of ourselves that we conceal and reveal in time. I know a painting is complete when it has become its own separate entity, one with a sense of dignity and self.” 

Featured Image: Ashlynn Browning - Bedrock, 2016, oil on panel