For Immediate Release Exhibition dates: March 20 – April 26, 2008 Opening reception: March 19 from 6-8pm Sarah Braman, Alison Fox, Tim Lokiec, Lucy Moore "Formal Play" Brown is pleased to present Formal Play, an exhibition of American and British artists working with colour and form in painting, sculpture and drawing. Taking the foundations of abstraction, these four artists question the restricted ideas of formalism, playing with composition, form and colour. For this exhibition, Sarah Braman has created a new sculpture, Let’s Stay Desperate (again). Composed of plexiglass, found furniture and paint, the work exists as an example of failed modernism. The work highlights earlier movements of Constructivism and De Stijl, where abstraction was translated into three-dimensional form.  But instead of insisting on machine or graphic production typical of these movements, Braman cuts the pieces loosely by hand and adds paint in an improvisatory manner. Alison Fox presents a selection of new and recent paintings, of which some include hand-made frames. Though the frames allude to the traditional method of presentation, their unevenness subverts the very technique and lends the work a sculptural component. Framing—outlining and highlighting the edges of the canvas—fetishizes the canvas and thus objectifies the painting. The treatment of the frames also reflects the artist’s interest in the decorative aspect of the work.  For Fox, a painting is connected to the notions of spectacle and display—space influences the final character of each work. On the canvas, Fox chooses colour intuitively, based on associations, with an awareness of previous colours and marks made on the surface. Bold use of colour and painterly strokes create both mood and space, and also create a patchwork-like surface. Tim Lokiec exhibits his lesser-known abstract drawings. Carefully combining various drawing techniques and compositions, the works provide a delicate sense of balance, complemented by a subdued use of colour. In certain works, Lokiec inserts small figurative elements— often abstracted and fractured—into the image, testing stricter notions of pure abstraction and non-representation. The small bodies playfully mix the figurative and the abstract. Lucy Moore considers the relations between image and object in her work. By attempting to create paintings that feel like sculpture and sculptures that feel like painting, the artist pushes the boundaries of both mediums. In A Plate, two pieces of glass are laid over two pieces of horizontal wooden panel, the longer of which is applied with broad strokes of green paint.  Cut-out parts of discarded paintings and a smaller piece of glass are arranged on the surface of the panel.  While viewing the work from a certain distance, it appears to flatten, mimicking the surface of a large canvas.  However, when the work is viewed closely, a shift in the focus of perception occurs – from the whole image to the material detail.  In the paintings She, stop and Instructions, the canvases are articulated with discrete areas of illusionistic mark-making. Subtlte use of colour and painterly brushwork create works of suggestive abstraction. Sarah Braman was born in 1970 in Tonawanda, New York. She received her BFA in 1992 from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her MFA in 1998 from the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia and Rome. She has had solo or two-person exhibitions with Dicksmith Gallery, London and CANADA, New York. Other exhibitions include “Greater New York” at PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens; “Circumventing the City” at D’Amelio Terras, New York; “Canada” at Counter, London; and “Frisky Flaming Hot” at Galleri Christina Wilson, Copenhagen. This is her first exhibition with Brown. The artist lives and works in both Brooklyn, New York and Amherst, Massachusetts. Alison Fox was born in 1977 in New York City. She received her BA in 2000 from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, and her MFA in 2005 from Hunter College, New York. Previous solo exhibitions include ATM Gallery, New York and Marc Selwyn, Los Angeles. She has also been included in exhibitions at Kantor/Feuer Gallery, Los Angeles; Mitchell-Innes and Nash, New York; Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York; and Guild & Greyshkul, New York. This is her first exhibition with Brown. The artist lives and works in Hudson, NY and New York, NY. Tim Lokiec was born in 1977 in Cleveland, Ohio. He received his BFA in 2000 from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and his MFA in 2002 from Columbia University, New York. He has exhibited at Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, and has also been included in “Painting as Fact – Fact as Fiction” at de Pury Luxembourg, Zurich; “Through the Looking Glass” at Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich; “Drone” at Vilma Gold, London; “Contemporary Drawings from the Dakis Collection”, Athens, Greece; and “Women Beware Women” at Deitch Projects, New York. His work has also been featured in the Triumph of Painting catalogue published by the Saatchi Gallery, London. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Lucy Moore was born in 1981 in London, UK. She received a BA in 2003 in Architecture and History of Art from Cambridge University, UK and a BA in Fine Art in 2007 from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. She is expected to receive a MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2009. She will have a solo exhibition with Brown in September 2008. The artist lives and works in London. For further information, please email info@browngallery.co.uk or visit www.browngallery.co.uk.