September 9- November 1, 2024
Semans Gallery
Celebration of Show: October 18th from 6-8pm
sentimental riffs is an interdisciplinary exhibition that mines at the emotional depth of vernacular photography. This exhibition brings together works from different projects united by their engagement with the photograph from a sentimental disposition. These works vary in method, materials, and concept but intersect at the shared focus on the photograph’s emotive potential and how sentiment can be articulated through a visual means. The title sentimental riffs draws on an analogy to riffs in musical compositions, a recurring thematic element that shapes and defines a piece of music. “Riffs” in this context represents the varying meditations on sentimentality explored throughout the exhibition.
Artist Bio:
Mark Anthony Brown Jr. (b. 1991) is a journeyman. He currently lives and works between Cincinnati, Ohio, Durham, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. Mark has received a Bachelor of Science Technology from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Fine Art in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a fellow in Museum Practice at The Ackland Art Museum.
Mark’s art practice is research driven and interdisciplinary; utilizing photography, sculpture, drawing and painting with interests in vernacular aesthetic practices & sensibilities, critical engagements with the vernacular landscape, the manifestation of African cultural retentions in the diaspora, semiotics, and archival practices. In conjunction with his art practice, Mark is also an educator & archivist.
His work has been exhibited nationally; including the Cincinnati Art Museum, Mint Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia and The Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mark has received various fellowships and awards including an Emerging Lens Fellowship from ArtWORKS in Chicago, (2022), the Nexus Grant from Atlanta Contemporary (2022), a Visiting Researcher Fellowship at Wilson Special Collection Library at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2023) and residencies at Ox-Bow School of Art and Shandaken: Storm King (2024) .