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  Deborah Brown
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  Art News
New York Reviews
By Reena Jana

Art News, October, 2001

Dogs have traditionally appeared as the noble pets of nobles, the sentimental companions of children, and sportsmen's accomplicies. By contrast, Deborah Brown's sensitively portrayed subjects are the unwanted mutts and the abandoned purebreads found at the Humane Society in Manhattan, where she is a volunteerdog walker. Brown cleverly presents her subjects from the perspective of someone looking down on them in their cages, the bars removed from the compositions. Rendering them against simple, monochromatic backgrounds and in a blunt, usally centered format. Brown attempts to represent the discarded animals in a detached, dispassionate manner.

The images seem to be intended as formal studies. A series of painterly portraits of a Jack Russell terrier named Zephyr capture the dog in various positions and from different angles as if to examine the anatomy of the tiny beast in a clinical thorough manner. Bucky Double Portrait presents twin images of the same dachshund on the same canvas captured both looking directly at the viewer and with its head turned away sinews and fur depicted with sharp realism.

Perhaps Brown's realism is too effective for she captures the sad wet eyes of some of her subjects with such clarity that she violates her intention of avoiding sentimentality. Her decision to place the dogs against monochromatic backgrounds and without any hint of context poignantly underscores that the animals are indeed lost and looking for a home. These studies turn out to be charming yet not overly precious portraits. Audry 1 for example features a scrawny long tailed dog who peers up with a believably wrinkled, hopeful brow.