Joe Anthony-Brown is a recent graduate of the NYU studio art department. His work consists mainly of oil paintings and ink drawings. Much of his sensibility and style comes from looking at comic books and cartoons and reading fantasy novels. Anthony-Brown’s work ranges in mood from funny to sad to frightening. Much of his work implies a narrative of some sort although what is going on can never quite be determined. Anthony-Brown sees his paintings as an example of narrative where the meaning, what’s actually going on, is hidden, and so the viewer is compelled to look for it. The images for Anthony-Brown’s paintings come mainly from his imagination. He tries to choose images that will perpetually confound and intrigue him, and hopefully the viewer, images that have no specific narrative or meaning but definitely have both. Anthony-Brown’s work often reflects an internal anxiety, sometimes this anxiety is presented comically and other times quite dramatically taking on apocalyptic subject matter. This anxiety comes from the uncertainty of everything and the certainty of uncertainty and of hidden things. Ideally his paintings leave the viewer unsure of something.
