Coady Brown b. 1990
Coady Brown’s paintings examine how groups, couples, and solitary figures navigate self-presentation in private and public life. Often situated within the drama and darkness of nightlife, Brown’s paintings explore the nuances of moving through the world in a feminized body. Figures are often compressed into tightly framed, intimate spaces that expose the subtle complexities of our interpersonal connections and relationships.
Drawing from varied source material—including canonical portraiture, art history, fashion, film, and everyday experiences—Brown orchestrates psychologically charged environments that pulse with a sense of mystery and wonder. Through attention to lighting, vibrant clothing, and high-contrast colors, Brown’s figures’ inscrutable expressions hint at an unknowable and autonomous selfhood, conjuring a precise instant within a specific and stylized world.
Coady Brown (b. 1990, lives and works in Philadelphia, PA) is a painter from Baltimore, MD. She received her MFA from Yale University in 2016, and her BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in 2012. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally with Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA; Stems Gallery, Brussels, Belgium; 1969 Gallery, New York, NY; Taymour Grahne, London, England; and Francois Ghebaly, New York, NY; among others. She is the recipient of several fellowships and residencies including Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME; The Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA; Fountainhead, Miami, FL; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; and the Yale/Norfolk School of Art, Norfolk, CT. Her work has been written about in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Juxtapoz, Variable West, and New American Painting.
Brown’s works are in the permanent collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, the Columbus Museum of Art, OH, and the X Museum, Beijing, China.
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Coady BrownImagine It Was Us, 2021Oil on canvas40 x 30 in
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Coady BrownBouquet #1 , 2021Oil on canvas24 x 20 in
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Coady BrownDark Star, 2021Oil on canvas40 x 30 in
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Coady BrownSequence, 2021Oil on canvas30 x 24 in
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Coady BrownDisco Sister, 2021Oil on canvas24 x 20 in
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Coady BrownBully, 2021Oil on canvas64 x 54 in
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Coady BrownMake Believe, 2021Oil on canvas42 x 36 in
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Coady BrownConfidante, 2021Oil on canvas72 x 60 in
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Coady BrownDespite the Divine, 2020Oil on canvas60 x 56 in
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Coady BrownBittersweet, 2020Oil on canvas64 x 54 in
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Coady BrownPraying to the Altar of Broken Things, 2021Oil on canvas48 x 36
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Coady BrownBloom, 2021Oil on canvas64 x 54
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Coady BrownConspiracy Theory, 2020Oil on canvas64 x 54 in
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Coady BrownBouquet #2, 2021Oil on canvas24 x 20 in
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Coady BrownSwept Up, 2020Oil on canvas30 x 24 in
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Only in the Darkness Can You See the Stars, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, September 18–October 30, 2021 .
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Only in the Darkness Can You See the Stars, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, September 18–October 30, 2021 .
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Made in the Dark, Stems Gallery, Ixelles, Belgium, April 22–May 22, 2021 .
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Made in the Dark, Stems Gallery, Ixelles, Belgium, April 22–May 22, 2021 .
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Made in the Dark, Stems Gallery, Ixelles, Belgium, April 22–May 22, 2021 .
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Made in the Dark, Stems Gallery, Ixelles, Belgium, April 22–May 22, 2021 .
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Electric Bloom, Taymour Grahne, London, UK, September 18–October 17, 2021 .
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Electric Bloom, Taymour Grahne, London, UK, September 18–October 17, 2021 .
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Installation view, Coady Brown: Electric Bloom, Taymour Grahne, London, UK, September 18–October 17, 2021 .
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Coady Brown is Painting a Surreal Reflection of Our Collective Mood
Eliza Jordan, Whitewall, April 18, 2022 -
Ninu Nina: In the Studio with Coady Brown
Leila Antakly, Ninu Nina, November 19, 2021 -
Variable West: Disco as a Communal Site of Pleasure: Coady Brown’s nightlife paintings at Shulamit Nazarian
Gabrielle Lawrence, Variable West, October 28, 2021 -
It's Nice That: Coady Brown paints alluring figures that “have a lot of secrets”
Ayla Angelos, It's Nice That, June 4, 2021 -
The Village Voice: Coady Brown’s Paintings Fight for the Right to Party
R.C. Baker, The Village Voice, December 7, 2017