Untitled #2

Since the 1980s, Andrew Browne’s paintings, photographs, drawings and prints have given form to nuanced relationships between natural and human-made environments. His interest in the poetics of illumination, the nocturnal and the everyday imbues his works with a psychic magnetism and sense of intrigue.

Untitled #2 is part of an extended series of paintings Browne describes as ‘nocturnes’ or ‘night pictures’, where luminous tree branches and orbs emerge from velvet-black voids. A meticulous process of painting, rubbing back and repainting gradually builds up the chiaroscuro of ghostly, tangled limbs against their eerie backdrop – a contrast reminiscent of night-time flash photography. This technique also abstracts the surface of the works with a gentle haze that is revealed up-close. Browne creates a push-pull effect within each work, striking a careful balance between a scene of terror, and one of mystery and seductive allure.