Laurene Krasny Brown, Berry Bowl, 2017. Gouache on cut paper. 10.5 x 9.5 in. Pictured with a 19th century green-painted splint basket atop an antique cupboard in original pink paint

New York, NY — Olde Hope is pleased to announce the opening of Shelf Life: The Art of Laurene Krasny Brown at its New York gallery. The show runs runs from April 14 – July 2 and features thirty-seven of the artist’s works hung alongside complimentary pieces of American painted furniture, folk art, and decorative arts from Olde Hope’s inventory. A catalogue will be available that includes an essay by Stacy C. Hollander, long-time former curator at the American Folk Art Museum, who says “Brown’s art is intimate and labor intensive, the result unexpectedly healing.”

Laurene Krasny Brown, A Democracy of Domes, 2020. Gouache, thread on paper. 40 x 40 x 1.5 in. Pictured above an 18th century Pennsylvania dower chest in original paint.

Working primarily in paper, Brown creates collages, assemblages, works in relief and small sculptures that seek to extract and express something emotionally and aesthetically essential.  “I take much inspiration from the traditions of American Folk Art: appreciation for material, fine craftsmanship, ingenuity, attention to detail, an economy of means and especially the ways an object often ages to advantage,” Brown says.  “Creating conversations between my work and American antiques makes this show very special for me; its why I feel so much at home here.” Included in the exhibition are still-life compositions inspired by 19th century theorem paintings, as well as geometric works that reference early graphic gameboards.

Laurene Krasny Brown, Facades, II, 2022. Gouache, acrylic, wire mesh, thread on paper. 42 x 21 x 1.5 in.

Laurene Krasny Brown, Facades, I, 2022. Gouache, acrylic, wire mesh, thread on paper. 42 x 21 x 1.5 in.

Laurene Krasny Brown was born and raised in New York City.  After obtaining degrees from Cornell University, Columbia University and Harvard University, Brown embarked on a career in education, research and childhood cognitive development. She authored seventeen books for young children, including titles dealing with well-being and friendship. For the past twenty years, her focus has been creating art. As a self-taught artist, Brown has been exhibited at galleries in New York, Boston, and Martha’s Vineyard, where she summers with her husband, Marc. She has been a Visiting Artist working and exhibiting in Amherst Virginia, Paros Greece, Auvillar and Marnay-sur-Seine France and, most recently, at The American Academy in Rome. She exhibited in 2020 with JVS Project Space at Art on Paper, and her first solo museum show was at the Fenimore Art Museum in 2021.

Olde Hope Antiques was established on July 4th, 1976 in New Hope, Pennsylvania by Edwin Hild and Patrick Bell. Both were in their early 20s and inspired by the 1974 exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art entitled “The Flowering of American Folk Art.” They were exhibitors at The Winter Show at the Park Avenue Amory for twenty-three years before opening a second gallery location on the Upper East Side in 2019. Olde Hope is recognized as a leading source for exceptional examples of American folk and decorative arts, including painted furniture, weathervanes, textiles, fraktur, and portraiture.

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