Dalton Brown

The Chicago artist, Dalton Brown, paintings and mixed media works are colorful and expressive. The loose energetic brushstrokes bring his subjects to life, whether in a small, intimate portrait or larger composition.  This is a sampling of his work featured at The Great Frame Up in Hyde Park, featuring his glass assemblages series, “Broken Glass Negro”. See the statement below the images for more about this dynamic colorful work. His mastery of color and expressive portraiture defined by his personal vocabulary of Rhythmism is apparent throughout his body of work.  Don’t miss this opportunity to purchase one of his impressive works for your home or office.
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Dalton Brown
Artist Statement

Paintings, drawings and sculpture morph my experiences into compositions full of color and movement.  A deep appreciation for the Creator and creation, inspire me to make the things I love.

Broken Glass Negro

In my ‘Broken Glass Negro’ series, I introduce you to my personal cultural milieu through my distinct visual vocabulary.

My dynamic use of color and form catapults you into the paradoxical narrative of my rich and colorful boyhood growing up in the Marcy Projects of the Bedford Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn.

Instead of using pigments and paints; in this series, I use colored glass fragments and shattered pieces of broken bottles gathered from the streets of Chicago. I meticulously reassemble them into a “canvas of life”.

Violence, crime, and racism was the backdrop of my childhood environment. One might expect it to leave people feeling broken and discarded like shards of glass in an alley. Now, as an artist and gentleman, I choose to use the glass shards to portray the joy, satisfaction, humility, love and triumphant spirit of the human race that was my experience of that community.

Join me on my personal journey of gratitude, passion and love for life!

Biography

Born in Brooklyn in 1951, I grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant area in the public housing projects, called “the Marcy”. Although poor, I never realized it until later in life. The ethnic and cultural mix, brought with it a high level of self esteem and pride.

My childhood interest in art, grew into a Saturday scholarship at the Brooklyn Museum Young Artist program. Upon graduation from the High School of Art and Design, I received a portfolio award to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

There I became fascinated with African art and the creative ways our predecessors expressed their vision of the universe. They met the challenges to survive and create from a spiritual wellspring and a primal inventiveness, that inspires and fuels my imagination today.

I completed the Art Institute of Chicago, Bachelor of Arts program in 1974, entered Southern Illinois University’s graduate program in 1976. That year, with funding from the Illinois Arts Council I began as an artist-in-residence with the local school district in Carbondale, Illinois. Now retired from teaching high school art in Chicago, I enjoy making art in my Beverly Art studio.