"Seeing and Reading" exhibit by artist Gerard Brown opens at Finlandia Gallery

HANCOCK -- "Seeing and Reading," an exhibition of artwork by Philadelphia artist Gerard Brown is on display through Nov. 27 at the Finlandia University Gallery, located in the Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock.

Artist Gerard Brown. (Photo © 2009 Sam Fritch and courtesy Finlandia University)

An opening reception for the artist will take place from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at the gallery. An artist talk will begin at 7:15 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Brown will be exhibiting a series of gouache paintings titled "The Whiteness of the Whale," which reference Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, Moby Dick. Brown makes paintings that sit at the intersection of seeing and reading. His paintings invite viewers to examine the idea that pictures can be read.

The Whiteness of the Whale (#19. "westward...a most imperial"), 2009, gouache on paper, 30 x 22 inches. (Photo © 2009 Sam Fritch and courtesy Finlandia University)

The notion of the image as a form of text was central to much of the art making and theory of the late 20th century. By employing various writing systems (Braille and others) as building blocks of pictures, Brown invites the viewer to be a reader and the reader to be a viewer in hopes that something might be gained in the space between these parts of our selves.

"A photograph of a person or a city is one form of description, and a poem about that person or place is another," he observes, "but what happens when these two perfectly adequate forms of description are turned on one another?"

Csaszar continues, "While there are numerous ideas and intellectual responses to Brown’s work, it is on the level of direct and immediate pleasures and impressions that Brown’s surfaces are ultimately read. They can then be re-read as various suspensions and interruptions of meanings in order to make their sense more visible."

Brown received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University of Fine Arts. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. His work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the east coast and Chicago.

Brown has also been actively involved in art criticism and arts writing and has worked for clients including the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Philadelphia Department of Recreation Mural Arts Program.

Brown has been providing individual critiques to Finlandia students on campus this week through Oct. 30.

The Finlandia University Gallery is in the Finnish American Heritage Center, 435 Quincy Street, Hancock. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 4 p.m.; or by appointment. Please call 906-487-7500 for more information.