CREATIV+NOV+DEC+2020

Moving forward, with the pandemic still a strong
presence across the world, Zox Brown will continue
to expand The Lockdown Paintings. As far as
subject matter, the painter will wait to discover and
navigate future experiences (and challenges) on
both a social and personal level. With the increase
of digitalization and re-structing of business
models and opportunities, many galleries and
institutions will have to add to their physical
presence. Whether displaying her art in-gallery or
online, Zox Brown would like the viewer to walk
away from this series with a sense of “we are all in
this together”.
Having moved all of her tools and materials to a
makeshift studio and shifted her approach, Zox
Brown states that while her creative process has
evolved throughout the years, it’s transformed most
dramatically during quarantine life. Originally, she’d
select a particularly strong drawing to turn into a
painting and consider the viewer for a single reason:
to guide him or her through the journey of the canvas.
Presently, she chooses a feeling or mood to express
and share, creates a sketch to unearth the meaning
she wants to visually convey and applies a layered
approach to both color and form to finally
communicate her emotion. The style, shape and
placement of each and every mark is intentional. As
opposed to titling the pieces in this series, the artist
is dating each painting in order to serve as a diary
and remember her emotional state when looking
back at this time. Similar to Margaret’s life, her art
has shifted during COVID-19.
“[The Lockdown Paintings highlights the true
beauty found in life at home, which is the natural
trajectory for me as an artist. While I was painting
the true beauty found in what I experienced
externally, culminating in New York Characters,
which reveals an appreciation for community, I am
now painting the shared beauty we all have while
isolating at home.
Our worlds have become smaller, but because we are
all experiencing this same thing, our homes are
actually much bigger. I am reaching out to the world,
to the community by showing what I have found to
be so beautiful in our very familiar moments. The
internal, while personal, is also a connection to a
shared, community experience. And by making these
paintings to be understood by all, I am most definitely
painting with my viewer in mind,]” she explains.
March 24th - April 4,
2020 _ 25” x 16” _ Oil on
Canvas
written by
Laura Shirk
www.creativmag.com | Nov - Dec 2020 | CREATIV | 39