GAVLAK

GAVLAK is proud to announce Deborah Brown: Flâneuse, the gallery’s second solo presentation of the work of the Brooklyn-based painter Deborah Brown. In new works (all 2022), Brown assumes the role of the flâneuse, the feminine counterpart to the 19th century archetype of the flâneur, a sophisticated and urbane subject whose powers of observation flow from his simultaneous immersion in and detachment from the living organism of the city. The anonymity that enables the flâneur to see without being seen manifests in Brown’s work in the long shadows that spill over the manicured lawns and sprawling driveways of stately Pasadena mansions. In each of the canvases and works on paper that comprise the exhibition, the silhouettes of a person—the artist herself—and a leashed dog cast a sense of alienation and menace over these ostentatious properties and their meticulously curated sensuality. Enticed by the artist’s lush palette and fluid brushwork but instinctively repelled by a host of visual and architectural cues designed to keep them at a distance, the viewer apprehends the subtle means by which the experience of even something as ineffable as beauty is determined by matters of class and access.