Shaker Boxes

Although he never took a botany class, Brown holds a BA in psychobiology from Boston University, where he studied such topics as biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and physics. Many of his friends, however, were fine art majors, who roused an interest that eventually led to his earning a master’s degree in art history. Years later, motivated by a desire to improve his technical skills after his parents gave him a 35mm camera, Brown enrolled at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. There teachers Steve Szabo, Joe Cameron, and Mark Power encouraged him to set up a studio and share his photographs with a greater public. As Brown puts it, “an unexpected career was launched.” During this period, he also looked at the narrative sequencing of Ralph Gibson’s photography, imaginative still-life compositions by Jan Groover and the storytelling of his contemporaries Duane Michals and Cindy Sherman.

The scientific method continues to guide Brown’s understanding of the world around us. In an early black and white image, Shaker boxes appear magically tossed in the air, tumbling against an indeterminate darkness. Lit by an unseen source, the objects signal a fascination with chiaroscuro and negative-positive space. This fascination carries over into his Nature Series, where highlighted and cropped close-ups of flora and land emerge from the dark to great and varied effect. Some images focus on underlying structure, others on overarching pattern. Yet all bear the imprint of light’s changing qualities to create a richly textured, sensual image that functions regardless of orientation.

—Excerpt from CLOSE RANGE, by Sarah Tanguy