Mixed Media

During the 1980s, Clint Brown created a large series of more than 100 works on canvas and paper that combine areas of lush color with photo and silkscreened images. The collaged images and hand-created texture areas are synthesized compositionally by a geometric breakup of the space. Often, the silkscreened image of a fish or a cowboy from a Marlboro ad are combined with computer circuitry or musical scores to create a textured tapestry over fields of color.

The imagery carries a metaphor for the time and place: The Northwest heritage of the natural world, represented by the salmon that returns to its spawning grounds by a pre-programmed instinct for survival, and the “Wild West” image represented by the Marlboro Man, juxtaposed with computer circuitry and other images of the modern age. These metaphors and the richness of color gave this series a particular appeal to collectors in the Northwest during the 1980s.