Deborah Brown loves animals

At artnet, blogaphobic Charlie Finch writes that his old pal Deborah Brown has captured the feeling of Pier 25 and other natural NYC sites in a new series of paintings at Lesley Heller Gallery. “These paintings arrive none too soon, as tacky glass high-rises obliterate much of the sparse nature of familiar New York. Now the cranes tend to topple rather than spread their wings and fly. Brown�s painting ‘Gowanus,’ for example, profiles a cormorant against the sunset drenched canal of that name. ‘San Remo’ shows a solitary hawk skimming one of the West Side�s classic sandstone buildings. ‘Tram’ depicts one majestic pigeon embarking via skytrain for Roosevelt Island. Brown has always been a minimal portraitist of the single animal; her compassion far outstrips that of Mother Nature. But our new New York situation draws a new message from her cozy, familiar tropes: New York resident, that pigeon is you!” Read more.
“Deborah Brown,” Lesley Heller Gallery, New York, NY. March 28 through Apr. 26.