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Emerging Artists

Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.

By Galerie editors
Person in a striped shirt sitting on a green sofa with colorful pillows, looking thoughtful, with photos in front.
Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. in Flushing, New York. Photo: Meredith Jenks

It’s impossible to capture a memory in a photograph, yet that’s exactly what Elliott Jerome Brown Jr. sets out to do in his mesmerizing images. By manipulating his intimate stills with the addition of objects and sculptural frames, he broadens the scope of the camera, creating varying angles and layers of time. Showcasing subjects with “backs turned, eyes closed, or bodies obstructed,” he also explores the value of privacy in a medium that is all about exposure.

On view: After receiving a BFA from New York University in 2016, Brown participated in group exhibitions at P.P.O.W. Gallery, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and New York’s La MaMa La Galleria, plus residencies in New Orleans at the St. Roch Community Church and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine.

Person with floral cloth sits by a window, seen from behind, surrounded by people in a casual setting.
Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., The tire grits its teeth along the gravel and brakes to silence – a pause for effect. / Have you ever siphoned rupture through a narrow opening? / (Do you know the control it takes to slingshot a sound?), 2018. Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Courtesy of the artist

Going solo: This year marked not his first solo show—but his first three: Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in New York, Staple Goods in New Orleans, and Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York.

Man with colorful fabric on head leans on reflective surface in dimly lit setting, hands clasped beside him.
Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Like a relentless fan, she would sing along, hair flounced and nails sunk deeper into her armrests whenever a note turned unanticipatedly left, then right, then upside down. In any direction, she took delight in her best effort to keep up., 2019 Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Courtesy of the artist

Abstract wooden frame artwork featuring various circular and rectangular cutouts with glimpses of people sitting and resting.
Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., 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), 2018. Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Courtesy of the artist

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2019 Late Fall Issue under the headline “Galerie Emerging Artist Award.” Subscribe to the magazine.