Month: November 2020

I have been building the site for about six weeks and am approaching the end of the easy, first phase of construction. I have been focusing on the catalogue, exhibition history, and existing reviews and critical literature, using the materials that are available on the web and which I have on hand (retrieved from Brown’s apartment). There is still more material to add, but the next phase of construction will depend upon getting materials from the galleries where Brown showed his work and his remaining papers (still locked away in his studio, which i cannot access until some legal proceedings are completed).

There will thus be less posted in the on-line catalogue over the next month. At the same time, the critical essays that i have asked people to write for the site should start coming in. There are also numerous reviews that I still have to scan and post. I will also begin work on the two sections that I have not yet begun: Ephemera and Juvinilia and the Archival materials. I have not worked on the first because I wanted to concentrate on the catalogue of major works, and I have been putting off positing material in the seconds because my feelings of loss are still too raw. However, because the archival material provides important context for understanding Brown’s work, it needs to be included. I will turn my attention to adding it over the next month.

I am always interested in new, relevant material. You can contact me at jnoonan@uwindsor.ca

The aim of the website is to provide a comprehensive record of Brown’s work. As I noted in my September update, I have exhausted the information that I retrieved from Brown’s apartment and publicly available sources on the Web. There are still gaps in the Exhibition history (I am working with the Olga Korper Gallery to fill them) and the Complete Catalogue. I will not be able to add much new material to those pages (obviously, the most important), until I gain access to his Richmond Street Studio. Covid has slowed down the court’s issuing the documents that I need to gain access. Patience is a virtue (not one, however, that I practice with any regularity). However, there is little I can do save to fume in frustration.

On a more positive note, the critical essays and reflections that I have invited from some of Brown’s closest artistic colleagues and friends are arriving. A rounded perspective of his practice and influence is emerging. I also continue to add .pdfs of reviews and critical notices of his shows. I have nearly completed the task of posting all extent reviews. I look forward to adding to the critical literature on Brown’s work in the coming months.

I have also– finally- felt strong enough to start adding content to the Archival Materials and Ephemera and Juvenalia pages. The former contains candid photographs of Brown’s life that I could not bear to go through in the first few months after his death. As the sharpness of the pain fades, posting those pictures was a source of (bittersweet) joy. I still have a number of early, pre-Lamanna students works to post. Once that work has been done I plan to write a short essay on the impact his student days had on his practice and artistic horizons.

Finally, those of you who knew Jack knew that he did much more than paint. The Ephemera section will, once it is complete, archive his many side projects and gifts to family and friends. Photographing and posting the best examples of the collages he made as covers0 for the hundreds of CD’s he burned for friends over the years will keep me warm as the temperature drops.

In closing, I invite anyone with information relevant to Brown’s career to contact me: jnoonan@uwindsor.ca