November 2013—January 2014
Link to Mixed Greens installation views
Link to interview with Brad Greenwood
Mixed Greens is thrilled to present Brad Greenwood’s first solo exhibition with Mixed Greens. Unauthorized Biographies consists of a new series of paintings on panel that utilize figuration, abstraction, myth, and reality in equal parts.
For years, Greenwood has painted figures undergoing transformation. Whether they are personified animals (the wolf appears most frequently), shape shifters, or something more human, all of the characters exist on multiple physical and psychological planes. Energetic, thick brushstrokes, graphite, and washy paint hover above judiciously exposed wood grain, leaving the viewer unsure as to whether the narrative is emerging or being absorbed. On a deeper level, the characters exist in a liminal state between the past and present, literature, myth, and Greenwood’s contemporary existence.
Personal narratives are integral to Greenwood’s work. His love story, star charts, and his dedication to painting after years of working a dual role as arts administrator/painter all influence the content of his work. However, there is never a single, dominating narrative. Greenwood describes his paintings as scenes in a play with actors coming on and off the stage, drawing upon his personal story but also fed by his deep fondness of art history. While each character is uniquely his own, his figures often co-mingle with iconic likenesses from paintings by Matisse, Gainsborough, Hockney, Basquiat, and others. He blends fact and fiction to create new and unauthorized portraits. Ultimately, the pieces function as narratives of personal emotion complicated by a deep and energizing love of paint and the history of art.
