Sauntering through the fruit aisles of Wegmans or Tops, most people wouldn't think twice about the complexities of culture as they picked up an apple or a bag of grapes. For many Americans, shopping for and consuming food has become such a routine part of life that one rarely thinks about an item's origins, physical makeup or its effect on the body.
Mia Brownell's exhibit, "Complexities of the Garden," explores such ideas through art, specifically as they relate to fruit. She brings new life and meaning to produce through vibrant colors on massive canvases.
"American attitudes towards food as a commodity fascinate me," Brownell said. "My paintings embrace a fusion of traditional still life techniques and scientific models, sublimated by notions of American dyspepsia."
She is particularly interested in how artificial and natural elements come together in today's supermarkets.
This attitude shines through each of her paintings being featured at the Big Orbit Gallery. She depicts winding grape vines that at first glance look like nothing more than that. Soon however, the viewer realizes that the grape vines have been intentionally designed to resemble strands of DNA. Brownell's exhibit results in thought provoking as well as aesthetically pleasing pieces.
The 76-by-96 inch "Still Life with Villin Headpiece, 2006," is one of the more conspicuous paintings at the exhibit. Against a completely dark background are winding wreathes of red grapes, which are extraordinarily luminous at some points but darker and more shadowed at others. The contrast of the pitch black backdrop against the shades of red is striking, as is that of the lime green apples that hang from silver branches that twist and span across the canvas. The use of color and shadowing in this piece completely draw the viewer towards it.
Brownell purposefully made fruit and DNA the subjects of her work to make individuals more conscious of the ways in which food is often subject to genetic mutation. The vast majority of what people consume is chemically altered so that it can be sold out of season.
"It looks like old Dutch classic photo realism, but its been completely re-contextualized into a much more decorative style of painting," said Mary Stack, a UB senior art major and intern at the gallery. "It should remind us of what we eat today, what it's made of, things we need to be aware of."
Brownell's ability to redefine commonly held notions about fruit make her this exhibit incredibly fascinating and definitely worth seeing.
Brownell is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University as well as the University of Buffalo. She lives in New York, and works as an associate professor of art at Southern Connecticut State University. She was raised by a sculptor and a biophysicist, an upbringing that is reflected in her work.
Her efforts are currently being displayed at the Big Orbit Gallery, located on Essex Street, through Dec. 23. It is open to the public, with a fee of $3 for the descriptive catalogue.
