LOUIS BRAWLEY
July 9 - October 8, 2023
On the Grounds at Duck Creek
Reception & Talk: Sunday, July 9 at 4-7pm

The Arts Center at Duck Creek is pleased to present an exhibition of outdoor sculpture by artist Louis Brawley on the grounds at Duck Creek. The exhibition will be on display from July 9 - October 8, with an opening reception and artist talk on Saturday, July 9, from 5-7 pm. 

Throughout the rest of our 2023 season, the grounds at Duck Creek will be inhabited by artist Louis Brawley’s rough-hewn, delightfully waggish wooden sculptures. These recent works  were made from fallen timber the artist collected during and after his pandemic stay in New Jersey, an experience which led the artist to work outdoors and adapt his practice to the unpredictable nature of his environment. This surrender to the elements is aligned with his creative process and good-humored openness: “While I’m working there is always that moment when I laugh and that’s a good sign that I’m going in the right direction. If something becomes too obvious, it needs to be redirected into the wilderness of possibility.” 

Brawley’s sense of amusement and surrender is obvious throughout the works, in both subject and materials. Rawly-carved clouds rest squarely atop a twisted pedestal; wobbling  “brick” towers support a brightly colored head, skewed window, and stacks of cartoonish bones; and a bifurcated tree limb becomes the perfect pair of pants for Brawley’s Pablo’s Pants. Each artwork is informed by the wood it is made from, and the way that particular cut of wood asks to be colored. Brawley grew up around a lot of polychrome (many colored) sculpture and this decorative method, a cornerstone of religious art, was “a major influence” on Brawley, who goes on to say “I think Duchamp was right that art has become a religion of its own.” 

The imagery and construction of these sculptures speak to the hierarchy of forms from earth to cosmos, a theme that is informed by the artist’s decade’s long study of Indian philosophy and a profound link to both sculptors and painters from Brancusi and Robert Grosvenor to Bonnard and Stanley Whitney. Accepting the limits of the human body is at the root of Brawley’s exploration. The humor springs from a sense of resignation and acceptance of the hubris of ideological or spiritual pretenses. For the artist, the impulse to make art carries its own meaning. Brawley sees himself as engaged in a conversation with all those who have made art in the past and those who will make it in the future. 

Louis Brawley (1958) holds a BFA in Philosophy from Temple University and an MFA from Hunter College. He worked and showed in New York in the 1990s before meeting Indian philosopher UG Krishnamurti in 2002. Louis began traveling with UG and took care of him during the final five years of UG’s life. Brawley then wrote the book, “Goner,” about the experience. After traveling the world for over a decade, the artist returned to Brooklyn in 2015 to resume a studio art practice. During the pandemic, he relocated to a friend’s farm in New Jersey, where he began creating the painted wood sculptures featured in this exhibition. A recent presentation of smaller scale works titled Aurora Funhouse took place at Sala Projects at 526 West 26th Street, Room 708, New York, NY in 2021. 

For further information, contact info@duckcreekarts.org.