Exhibition Review: In the Particular

The Peer Review
Cameron Brown’s ‘In the Particular’.

Words by Stef Woof. March 2022

‘In the Particular’ is Cameron Brown’s first solo exhibition, offering a masterclass in portraiture and painterly practice. The Warrington-based artist draws inspiration for his title from the poet James Joyce, who famously stated “in the particular contains the universal”. Or, to put it another way, even the most extraordinary stories of individuals reveal common truths that resonate with all of us.

Brown’s collection of portraits creates a kind of personal album, containing snapshots of the artist’s friends and family from past to present. By sharing these personal moments with you, Brown prompts you to reflect on your own relationships and experiences.

The exhibition begins with two self-portraits. Brown has chosen an old mirror and a wooden drawer as canvases for his image, which are simple and familiar objects we all encounter daily. It is as though Brown is setting the tone for the rest of his show, inviting you to consider individual and universal concepts simultaneously.

The portraits that follow could be seen as a series of tableaux; private moments and public interactions have been frozen in time, their life-force perfectly preserved through Brown’s signature painterly style. His mark-making is both assertive and sensitive. His palette is almost exclusively black and white, creating absorbing and atmospheric images. Brown’s use of colour is minimal and intelligent, and when used it gives his subjects a sense of light and energy that positively beams out of the canvas.

The overall result – augmented by the curation of the show – is paintings that have a life of their own. A perfect example of this can be seen in two complementary pieces. ‘Sad Captains’ and ‘Don’t get me wrong’ depict past scenes of bars and pubs. They are hung on opposite walls facing each other across the space. Brown’s confident use of the materials and choice of subject matter have created a sensory experience for the viewer.

Drawing from the visual clues and your own familiarity with these places, you can almost smell the stale alcohol and cigarette smoke. Although each piece only depicts 3 people, your instinct tells you these boozers are busy, and you can imagine yourself straining to hear what the group are saying above the din of others not visible beyond the canvas. Walking in between these pieces is like walking through your local squeezing past the tables, and the effect is so convincing that you almost expect a flick of the cigarette, or the quick sip of a drink whilst someone else is holding court.

The collection moves effortlessly from the commonplace to the existential. ‘Lived, now dead/ living, now dying’ shows the portraits of two men painted on individual wooden blocks next to each other. The left portrait is hung slightly higher than the right, and if you read these from left to right as the title suggests, you can conclude that the gentleman on the left is dead, and the gentleman on the right is dying. The left shows a man looking down to the right, he has a knowing smile on his face, and he appears to be illuminated with a warm glow. By contrast, the right shows a man staring into the middle distance, with a pensive yet peaceful demeanour. His light appears to be extinguished, as the piece is rendered almost completely in black. Perhaps this is a post-lockdown/pandemic perspective, but you cannot help but think about those you have lost, and those you couldn’t bear to lose. The portraits also prompt you to consider how fragile and precious this life is, and whether there is anything on the other side. Are our loved ones looking down on us, and will we all meet again one day?

As a collection, ‘In the Particular’ is moving and beautiful in its ability to offer relatable experiences for the viewer. At once deeply personal and widely universal; each painting causes you to reflect on the episodes of your own life, the people and places that make it, and overall, what it means to be human.

Stef Woof is a visual artist and illustrator based in the Old School Artist Studios in Warrington.

In the Particular is on show at Pyramid until 8 Feb.