Grapes, pears and plums that might traditionally be arranged on a table or in a bowl, swirl in perpetual motion in Mia Brownell’s oil paintings. Proteins and amino acids, the building blocks of life, are the synthesized to create these patterns of motion. Each luminous, individual grape is meticulously rendered and clustered to create a sense of deep space. Brownell employs seductive painting techniques associated with Dutch still-life that ground the paintings and draw the viewer into this vortex. The compositions possess an underlying anxiety or frenzy that hints at implications of biotechnology on plant survival in a future that holds unpredictable environmental conditions and the prospect of extraordinary science.

Mia Brownell has long been long interested in the biotechnology industry and ways in which plants are genetically modified to thrive in the marketplace. These paintings extend a series that she started three years ago. Last fall she had her first solo exhibition in New York at Metaphor Contemporary Art. She has had solo exhibitions at the Big Orbit Gallery, Buffalo, NY; the Duke University Union Brown Gallery, Durham, NC; and the Castellani Art Museum, Niagra Falls, NY. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY; Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY; among others. She has received a New York Foundation for the Arts Strategic Opportunity Stipend, and University Research Grants from Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT where she is an Associate Professor of Art. She has participated in residency programs at the Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY; and the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. For more information www.metaphorcontemporaryart.com.