I am pleased to be participating in Propeller Gallery's Salon 19 exhibition. The show runs through Sunday September 7th. I am showing a slightly revamped version of my piece "Thinking of Hundertwasser". Propeller Gallery is located at 30 Abell Street, in the Dufferin and Queen neighbourhood.
4 or my newest paintings from a series inspired by Spanish and Moroccan geometric patterns sold during Doors Open Toronto at the end of May. This piece is one that is still available.
Zelije 3, acrylic on panel, 15cm x 15cm x 4 cm, 2025, $95, AVAILABLE
Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street, is a fantastic venue. The artwork gets so well lit on the gallery walls. My newest work looked great and I sold 4 of the latest pieces.
I will be showing a new series of paintings at Youngplace (180 Shaw St), during Doors Open Toronto this Saturday May 24th and Sunday May 25th. If you are in the Dundas and Ossington neighbourhood, please drop by and say hello!
I am gearing up for an art show that will take place during Doors Open Toronto. The exhibition will take place on Saturday and Sunday May 24th and 25th at Youngsplace which is a creative hub in the heart of West Queen West, Toronto. Here are three of my more recent works:
Over the first 3 months of 20125, I have been working on painting using patterns found in ceramics.
Marrakech, acrylic on panel, 40 cm x 28 cm x 3 cm, 2025 SOLD
Tony Bryant of the Costa del Sol newspaper, Sur in English, put together a fantastic write-up on my installation of tiles. Here is the story.
Recien terminamos la instalación de azulejos en Torremolinos. Se quedó muy lindo.
Recently we finished the tile installation in Torremolinos. It turned out beautifully.
Esta semana mi esposa, mi hija y yo hemos estado haciendo una instalación de azulejos abandonados al lado del Camino de la Cantera. La obra mide 3.15 m x 3.15 m. Hemos visto cabras de montaña. Es un lugar precioso en las montañas detrás de Torremolinos. Tomé inspiración de un patron que encontré en un libro sobre los azulejos de la Alhambra de Granada.
This week my wife, daughter and I have been working on an installation of discarded tiles found at the edge of the Camino de la Cantera. The work measures 3.15 m x 3.15 m. We have seen mountain goats. The location in the mountains behind Torremolinos is beautiful. I took inspiration from a pattern I found in a book on tiles of the Alhambra (Granada).
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I am pleased that my piece, "Can you make a difference?" was selected for this group exhibition at Propeller Gallery, Toronto. The show runs through August 21st and the opening is Saturday August 6th from 2 to 5 pm. The exhibition is a joint collaboration between Propeller Gallery and the Broken Forests Group. Here is a list of the artists with work in the exhibition: Alexander Boudreault, Michael Brown, Nancy R. Chalut, Michael Cywink, Liz Rae Dalton, Susan Farquhar, Linda Fitz & Steve Paul Simms, Peter Friedrichsen, Sharron Corrigan Forrest, Gerry Gooderham, Arlington Hoffman, Lee Horner, Domenica Howley, Valentina Hutcheon, Alexandra Iorgu, Lisa Johnson, Clement Kent & Leena Raudvee, Sophia Kim, Robin Kingsburgh, Karen Klee-Atlin, Adam Kolodziej, Michelle Letarte, Liz Menard, Jurgen Mohr, Lisa Murzin, Leah Oates, Frances Patella, Atia Pokorny, Dominique Prévost, Clare Ross, Susan Ruptash, Silvija Saplys, Tracy Thomson, Mateus Stelini, Pearl Van Geest, Nadine Wyczolkowski, and Noriko Yamamoto.
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| "Can you make a difference?", mixed media on canvas, 105cm x 120cm x 5cm, 2022 |
This piece takes inspiration from Jadav Payeng, also known as the "Forest Man" in Majuli, India. Since the late 1970s he has planted trees to create a forest that is twice the size of Central Park. I highly recommend the documentary Forest Man. It talks about his life and project in great detail.
Forest Man, mixed media on panel, 30cm x 30cm x 5cm, 2022, AVAILABLE
I have reworked this piece many times. I think I have it finished. I started with a yellow plaster base which really warmed up this work.
Amarillo, mixed media on canvas, 40cm x 30cm x 5cm, 2022, AVAILABLE
I loved the book, Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel. This piece takes inspiration (and some background text) from this book.
Stranger in the Woods, mixed media on panel, 30 cm x 23 cm x 5 cm, 2022, AVAILABLE
16 random numbers between 0 and 9, mixed media on canvas, 16" x 12" x 2", 2022, AVAILABLE through Canvas Gallery.
I recently reworked this piece by bringing out some of the geometric shapes in lower levels of the painting. Here is the earlier version. I think the piece is now stronger.
I took some time this holiday break to work on some pieces. I also applied to the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair that will take place at City Hall in mid-July.
Here's one of the new pieces. The text in the background is from the song of the same name by Gordon Lightfoot.
My piece, Copan, is currently on display at Propeller's 25th anniversary exhibition. I was a member there in 2008 and 2009.
Copan, oil and graphite on mylar, 20" x 20", 2021. (Frame size: 31" x 30"). SOLD through Canvas Gallery.
For this piece I thought back to the first archaeological site that I visited in July 1989: Copan. This site in Western Honduras really moved me. The text running in the background relates to the site. The numbers were taken from an online random number generator.
I just finished this piece that I named Brazil after Chico Mendes. He was a rubber tapper and environmentalist who, sadly, was assassinated in the late 1980s. He had some very inspiring quotes about the environment and the Amazon. The palette references water, which is a huge part of the Amazon. Recently I read that rain clouds that form over the Amazon come from the moisture from the jungle. Previously the thought was that the rain clouds came solely from westerly winds blowing over the Andes.
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| Brazil, mixed media on panel, 36" x 48", 2021, M. Brown |
Brazil, mixed media on panel, 36" x 48", 2021, SOLD
Recently we had a Kentucky Coffee Tree planted out front. It is a beautiful tree. As I did this painting, the tree was on my mind. I love to watch how plants/trees grow over time.
Kentucky Coffee Tree, mixed media on canvas, 16" x 12", 2021. $440. SOLD through Canvas Gallery.
MLK, mixed media on panel, 40" x 40" x 2", 2021, SOLD through Canvas Gallery.
I used a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that talks about making difficult decisions. The quote runs in the background, although is somewhat obscured by the numbers.
This has been at times a difficult year where I have had to make decisions that were neither popular, nor safe, nor politic. Painting this piece helped me through these difficult times. Mixing paint and putting colours together takes my mind off the other stuff.
Reading Richard Wright, mixed media on panel, 12” x 9” x 1.5”, 2020, $240, SOLD through Canvas Gallery.
I was reading Black Boy, by Richard Wright, when I painted this piece. I found the book very moving. He was born in 1908 (the same year as my grandparents), but fought tremendous racism as a black boy/youth growing up in Mississippi in the 1920s and 30s. The text running in the background of this piece is from a quote of his based on the state of things in the US in the first half of the 20th C.
Standing up for what you believe in even if you are alone, mixed media on canvas, 16” x 12” x 2”, 2020, $425. SOLD through Canvas Gallery.
This quote (and title of this painting) comes from Sophie Scholl, an activist who died very young during WW2. As I navigated a couple of difficult weeks at work, I managed to create this piece.
Cortez, mixed media on panel, 36” x 48” x 2”, 2020. SOLD through Canvas Gallery.
This is the latest in a series of text-based paintings. The numbers are drawn at random. The text underneath is taken from a speech from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
