... and Other Things That Travel and Bind

"I MAKE STILL LIFE PAINTINGS THAT ARE NOT STILL".   ​

They dissect and interweave fundamental elements of nature, food, and culture – of movement, and impulse – that might be labeled theatric. My inspirations stem from the confluences between the seductive excesses of food culture, the vanity and illusionism of traditional still life painting, and the constructed spaces of computer generated scientific imaging. 

I imagine the entanglement between the consumerist idealization of food with its biological engineering and the molecular strains that then interact with our bodies. The space I paint attempts to capture this paradoxical perspective, one that is equally rational and fantastical, material and in constant flux. If we are what we eat, what are we becoming? These entanglements reveal a new nature of food and the cultures that adopt or are dependent on it. Food has become a dynamic field for both exploration and manipulation and we are made vulnerable and powerful by it. 

• More about Mia Brownell 
• Story about the exhibit in WestWord