Remnants, Remnants, Remnants

“REMNANTS REMNANTS REMNANTS”, A solo exhibition by Grant M Brownlow, presents recently created works on paper and panel at The Saginaw Art Museum in Saginaw, MI. The title of the show, grabbed from the cracked front window of an appliance repair shop, relates to the relationship of the region’s past industrial might and resulting post-industrial present. Brownlow’s Artwork collides these eras in collage-like compositions utilizing imagery of the Midwest’s scattered post-industrial spaces with iconic images of it’s manufacturing glory days. The works are Brownlow’s ruminations on his inherited midwestern psyche – reflections on the region’s overshadowing history within his daily life and present. Informed by his upbringing around industrial spaces including plastics factories, auto body shops, racetracks and half-abandoned warehouses, the artworks confront ideas including class, identity, and inherited self-destructive tendencies within the region and his experience. Empty beer cans, old tires, half-faded signage and sparkling chrome bumpers, cover the surfaces like faded tattoos on the neighborhood mechanic – a mix of era and aura upon a single plane and present.