If one thinks of time spatially, there seems a great distance between July, my last update, and January, the current update. However, experientially, when one is submerged in work, six months flies past like it were a matter of seconds. Part of the reason for the long delay is that most of the detective work for the catalogue is over. While I still have a few slides to go through, I think that, barring the unexpected discovery of a trove of as yet undocumented paintings, the catalogue is more or less complete. The main task now is to complete my series of critical essays. In that regard,I am happy to report that I have completed and posted the fifth of a planned six essay cycle. The newest essay, “The Architecture of Dread” focuses (as the previous essay did) on works of Brown’s final period. I have one final essay planned, on the still evolving at the time of his death Grimm series. I do not want to put a strict time frame on the writing of it (I hate missing deadlines, so I will not impose one on myself), but I would like to complete the whole series by May or June. We shall see.
I close with three requests. First, I want to ask anyone who remembers any conversations with Jack about the Grimm series– how he conceived it, what, if any, principle unified the 90 or so paintings that make it up, how he thought about it in relation to his other works, both aesthetically and thematically- to please get in touch and share whatever information you have (jnoonan@uwindsor.ca). Jack himself left almost no written reflections on his work, so I have to rely on friends and colleagues testimonials to give some historical substance to my arguments.
Second, Jack’s studio at the time of his death contained a number of paintings and drawings, on both paper and panel. The recent paintings I sent to his gallery, but I still have many of the older drawings and works on paper in my possession and would like to start returning them to the world. In the aftermath of Jack’s death they felt as a living presence and I wanted to keep them close to me. However, art, like people, has to live and breath in the world. I am going to make a number of them available for purchase for a very reasonable price. If you are interested, please contact me at the email address above and I will send you .pdfs of the available works.
Finally, if anyone knows of a small press that would be interested in releasing a print version of the essay cycle that I am working on, please send me their information. For a number of reasons I have decided against pursuing publication through a Canadian university press, but I would like to see a print version if one could be arranged (not for the sake of my own vanity or career, but because Jack’s work deserves the sort of permanent public presence a book would confer).
Thank you for visiting the archive and please spread word of its existence.
Hello, my name is Christina and my Dad is certain that the Toronto artist John Brown is the same man he was friends with in the late ‘70’s. I am wondering if you know where John (Jack) was living in the late ‘70’s early’80’s? The John Brown who was a friend of our family lived in an old farmhouse in Roseville, which is southwest of Kitchener and north of Ayr, on the north side of the 401. I remember visiting the house and there being a lot of in-process art around. I’m curious if our family friend was indeed the same John Brown?