January 8 - January 31, 2022

Artist Talk and Reception Saturday January 29, 2022 6pm-9pm                          rsvp 415-275-2066 Vaccinations and mask required

Kristen Brown

Versions of Truth

While attempting to organize and regain association with particular memories, the works in this exhibition explore themes of dissociation, trauma, memory, and truth. Versions of Truth is a series of immersive large-scale and smaller more intimate oil paintings on panel, canvas, and linen. Blurred and slightly distorted images embody a disruption in the way certain events are processed, resembling the act of sorting through memories that feel fragmented or scattered. Memory is not always coherent or a continuous record of something that happened; every individual has different versions of past experiences, and moments can often become blurred or distant. My works express the slipperiness of questioned or manipulated memories, as well as the anxiety and altered perception of reality that occurs when a memory landmark cannot be secured or properly categorized. 

Referencing unconventional photographic abstractions, such as soft focus, motion blurs, and multiple exposures, I aim to express feelings of depersonalization and nostalgia, which disrupt the ability to understand or identify time. Overlapping images portray the experience of being involuntarily pulled into a past moment and struggling to distinguish a memory from the present. These works create disorganized situations and dreamlike atmospheres that evoke mystery while maintaining a psychological sensitivity. Soft surfaces and thin layers of paint create blurring effects to portray enigmatic atmospheres referencing a breakdown of comprehensible time and awareness. In an effort to regain losses in fluidity, resilience, and the normal capacity to organize information, these works capture the transitory nature of our experiences, portraying the impact of past moments and people.

Percentage of our proceeds will go towards  http://postpartumsc.org  which Kristen Brown has designated as her way to help support a system and safe place for mothers/parents and families in need and to promote awareness and prevention of Perinatal Mental Health Disorders.