Ashlynn Browning

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work contains a hybrid of geometric and organic forms created through an intuitive painting process.

The forms in the paintings often function as stand-ins for figures, each one exhibiting its own persona and implied psychological narrative. Some of the forms are off-kilter, vulnerable and contemplative. Others are headstrong and daring, their bold postures barely contained within the panel's parameters. A sense of anxiety and internal conflict is a common underlying element.

Experimenting with the tension between opposing forces is another important part of my work. Bold color is set against muted, geometric forms mix with organic, and pattern and texture play off of smooth color fields. These are variables that I add, subtract, scrape down and edit in lengthy stages until a resonant image is formed. 

The many layers in the paintings speak not only to the history of their creation, but also to the concealed parts of ourselves that we hold back. Windows or portals into under layers reveal hidden depths and untold stories.

Follow current work on Instagram- @browning19

BIO

Ashlynn Browning is a painter and curator located in Raleigh, NC. She earned BA degrees in Studio Art and English from Meredith College in 2000 and her MFA in painting and printmaking from the University of NC at Greensboro in 2002. Browning has received grants and residency fellowships from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, United Arts Council, Vermont Studio Center, and Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Select exhibitions include the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC, The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, Whitespace, Atlanta, GA, CUE Foundation, New York, NY, and Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC.

Browning’s work was featured in the 2009, 2015, and 2020 Southern Edition of the national publication, New American Paintings. Her exhibitions have been reviewed by The Brooklyn Rail, Burnaway, The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is included in the recently published book Art of the State, featuring a selection of North Carolina artists.

Browning is represented by Whitespace, Atlanta, GA, Hodges Taylor, Charlotte, NC and IdeelArt, London, UK. Her recent curatorial projects include the  2020 painting exhibition, Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting, at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC.