At the closing of their exhibit Going AWOL, artists Patrick Brennan and Melissa Brown, spoke on their exhibit as well as their struggles and experiences as artists.
Brennan's themefor the event was portability because he painted his works while abroad. He also discussed mobility because the paintings had to be small enough to fit in his luggage.
The theme for Brown's show was a road trip around America, drawing upon her traveling experiences and desire to recreate vivid moments. She prefers to combine mediums and methods to create her works, mixing techniques like air-brush, stencil and oil painting.
The two artists began their art careers by moving to New York City in the early 2000’s.
Brennan moved to New York with no other options, without a job or much money, staying with friends and working his way up in the art world.
“I remember a lot of fear, but I also remember a lot of excitement because I quickly realized that I can do this,” he said.
Brown worked her way into the art world by hosting performances, events and art shows in a loft that she shared with two friends. This introduced her to the city’s art community, where she met people that she still works with today.
“I learned really quickly that doing things yourself was the best way to kind of bring the community to you,” Brown said.
Brennan and Brown are now part of a group that runs their own gallery, Essex Flowers, named for the flower-shop basement that it was first based in. Essex Flowers is now well-known, but they can still remember the financial crisis in the early 2000’s, explaining that it was a challenge to get art out there unless they did it themselves.
“It led to this exciting moment because all of the galleries were closing and all of the money was sort of all gone, and how were you going to see art?” Brennan said. “And we were throwing art shows in apartments and doing these wild things and critics from the New York Times were showing up to those things.”
Brown said her favorite thing about running a gallery is being able to help other artists get their work noticed because she struggled with that same problem.
Brennan added that he likes the change of pace from the isolation of working in his studio to putting himself out there in the New York art world. He also enjoys the novelty, wonder and escapism of the art world.
“If you feel like you’re not that great, not out there to save the world, and you want to be a part of something, starting this gallery was a great way to do it,” Brennan said.
Sam Potter, senior in print-making, enjoyed the gallery because it gave her more insight into the art world.
“I liked the collaboration between the two artists, especially hearing about the contrast between their views on nature,” Potter said.
Hugo Morris, senior in art with a painting concentration, enjoyed hearing about the two artists' process of becoming successful in their craft as well as the multitude of ways that they broke into the art world.
“It’s nice to always have artists come in and talk about the whole process of being an artists, rather than just the work itself,” Morris said.
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