a simple song

About

Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York is pleased to present a simple song by 2018 Workspace Resident Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., opening January 9, 2019 and running through February 16, 2019. This exhibition comprising of multimedia photographic and photo-sculptural works, draws influences from Billy Preston’s 1971 album, I Wrote a Simple Song, in which the named track describes working on a straightforward song for an intended person and having the song embellished for radio success, leaving this special gesture now stripped of its intimacy and privacy.

In Brown Jr.’s portrait photographs, the pictured individuals are often obscured or located residually within the image. In Sssummmmmwhhhhhhhhhhere, a site-specific installation in which Brown Jr. has created a woven awning in front of a photograph, some areas of the image are obscured completely, while others are slightly visible. The work is less concerned with representation, more often rendering private moments and discourse with reserve.

Brown Jr. has been interested in the photographic history of black representation and how intimate experiences are revealed as both personal artifacts and sociopolitical stimulus. However, in subverting the biographical context in which his images are made, he creates photographs that are open-ended in a literary sense. Using the pictured environment, objects within the space, or the margins of the frame itself to disguise or reference an individual, Brown Jr.’s photographs become a prime space for curiosity and refusal.

In the work titled, He gave and he gave, but he wouldn’t have given at all if I didn’t let him in, if I didn’t cover my body in soap three times, swish oil between my teeth 47 minutes ahead of the time, that I expected him (Wounded), Brown Jr. depicts a traditional family picture frame, but instead of showing familial experiences, the structure fractures and compartmentalizes happenings within individual photographs. Through the framework, some details are revealed while others remain unknowable to the viewer, further accentuating the limits of voyeurism when observing private interactions.

The works in a simple song offer a visual exercise for the viewer through Brown Jr.’s photo-structural works that use public space to further obscure private moments. The viewer is allowed to be a part of this intimate experience, yet through the constructed space is asked to maintain a respectful distance to gain access to the pictured environment or individual.

As a Baxter St Workspace Resident, Brown Jr. was awarded three months access to the International Center of Photography, Baxter St facilities, an artist stipend and a solo exhibition at Baxter St. Brown Jr. is the second 2018 Workplace Resident to have a solo exhibition at Baxter St, after Arash Fewzee and will be followed by Zalika Azim in February and Tommy Kha in May.

Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. (b. 1993) is a conceptual photographer working on ideas related to intimacy, domestic space, and marginality. Brown Jr.’s work has been featured in exhibitions domestically and internationally. Brown Jr. was a participant in the New York Times Portfolio Review (2016) and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2017). He received his BFA in Photography from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. He currently lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana as a St. Roch Community Church Artist-in-Residence.

Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York is an artist-run arts organization and exhibition space that supports and activates the community of lens-based contemporary artists by offering workspace residencies, a dynamic program and talk series as well as memberships. Founded in 1884, Baxter St is one of New York’s oldest artist-run nonprofit spaces fostering the development of emerging lens-based artists at critical moments of their careers. Providing analog and digital workspace to members, exhibiting solo and group shows by emerging artists, hosting dynamic programming and offering competitive workspace residency programs, Baxter St is a catalyst for innovative creation within the artistic mediums of photography and video practices.

Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York operates as a 501(c)3 arts organization and is located at 126 Baxter St and 128 Baxter St. Its programming and exhibitions are supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, The Jerome Foundation, The Tierney Family Foundation, Steven Amedee Fine Custom Framing, Fujifilm of North America, The Puffin Foundation Ltd., Yarden Winery, and Awagami Factory. Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York is W.A.G.E. certified.

MEDIA CONTACT: Third Eye, Morgan Potts, morgan@hellothirdeye.com, 212-355-9009