Cecily Brown is a British painter whose dynamic figurative paintings have gained her international recognition in the contemporary art world. Brown was born in London in 1969, and raised in the English countryside. She attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1988 to 1993, and then moved to New York in 1994.
Brown’s art is a combination of abstraction and representation. Her paintings are often populated with figures — nudes, couples, and animals — that are rendered in a dreamlike, sometimes chaotic manner. Her work has been compared to the work of Willem de Kooning, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Francis Bacon.
Brown’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world. She has had solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Serpentine Gallery in London. In 2016, Brown became the first living female artist to have her work featured on a U.S. postage stamp.
In addition to her painting practice, Brown has also become a respected art director and curator. She has directed numerous exhibitions, including shows at the Gagosian, David Zwirner, and White Cube galleries. She has also curated exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
Brown’s work is held in public and private collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. In 2017, Brown was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, which honors individuals who show extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits.
Cecily Brown has established herself as one of the leading painters of her generation, creating work that is both technically accomplished and visually captivating. Her paintings continue to draw viewers in with their vibrant colors, energetic brushwork, and dreamlike imagery.
