Gerald Brown

Artist Statement

My sculptural, diagrammatic practice utilizes drawing and ceramics as methodologies that extend beyond their literal applications. I define drawing by its ability to capture the act of thinking and ceramics by its engagement with the interior. These two methodologies co-build an internal, reflective process, an essential tool in investigating my interiority. Through this introspective tool, each sculptural gesture equally embodies the translation of inner thoughts, the memory produced after that attempt, and the subsequent response to the previous archived motion.

I utilize various materials to convey how this introspective process reveals the innerworkings of my self-perception and public image, depicting the agency, conflict, and discovery that occur within these moments. The multi-temporal, Black, neurodivergent, and queer urge to leave your trace and the memory of yourself is ever present in my work. Though marks may be discreet, ambiguous, or outright hidden, I am still present, embedded in the fabric of the material. And for those who look closer, the act of covering my tracks still overtly leaves a mark of its own.