Glenn Brown

Mark Boote Gallery, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1993

New York, Mark Boote Gallery, Mandy Loves Declan 100%, 1993
London, Karsten Schubert Ltd.; Hexham, Queen's Hall Art Centre, Glenn Brown, 1995-96, pl. 6, illustrated in colour and p. 4, installation view 
London, Serpentine Gallery, Glenn Brown, 2004, p. 25, illustrated in colour 

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the purple tones tend more towards deep blue and the yellow tones are slightly richer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is minor wear and associated specks of paint loss to all four corner tips. There are five minute brown fly spots to the yellow paint 10 cm. above the lower left corner. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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From February to May 2009, the Tate Liverpool in collaboration with the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, will be conducting a major retrospective on the artist which will bring together the largest ever selection of Glenn Brown's work. A true highlight from such a varied and expansive oeuvre is found in this present example. Requested by the artist to be included as a highlight of all of his major exhibitions to date, most recently his retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery, London, in 2004, We'll Drink Through it All, This the Modern Age from 1993 is one of Glenn Brown's most accomplished early works.  Acquired in 1993 directly from the Mark Boote Gallery, New York, it has been in the same collection ever since, made available for public view for important exhibitions.

Taking his cue from the founders of Appropriation Art, Glenn Brown's quintessentially post-modern approach to painting borrows images from a diverse range of visual sources, both historic and current, repainted in a manner entirely his own. We'll Drink Through it All, This the Modern Age is one of Brown's most exquisite works based on Auerbach's heavily impastoed portraits. Here, in an extraordinarily rich palette, the illusion of thick ridges and highly textured surfaces are meticulously rendered in minute detail on a flawlessly flat, highly polished surface making it look almost photographic. In a painstaking creative process, the violent expression of Auerbach's spontaneous brushstrokes are cooled by Brown's dispassionate, laborious technique. The extensive process of working from reproductions reflects how often we experience art second-hand, through photographs and books, where the nuances of colour and the impact of scale are negated. Often Brown selects reproductions that are not entirely faithful to the original in colour or tone, and ruthlessly crops or manipulates the image, here heightening the palette and focusing in on the head of Auerbach's model, which, by close cropping, becomes more abstract.

The title of this work is borrowed from Joy Division's song 'These Days'. However, just as Brown takes Auerbach's image and makes it his own, in his title the original lyric is bastardised from 'We'll drift through it all, it's the modern age'. Brown remarked that "Joy Division's mournful yet euphoric rock music, which can still be danced to like disco, encapsulates every painting I ever wanted to make" (the artist cited in interview with Sabine Folie in Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Dear Painter, Paint Me: Painting the Figure Since Late Picabia, 2002, p. 89). Brown often takes his inspiration from music, "I create a daily soundtrack to my life by stringing together ordinary pieces of music in my mind. Songs very often come into my head when I look at my paintings. Music places me emotionally in a particular moment, at some point other people have had similar feelings and experiences. They are songs about being sad, about being rejected in love, and about other very strong emotions. They trigger a realization that you are part of the world, and yet an individual within it." (the artist interviewed by Rochelle Steiner in Exhibition Catalogue, London, Serpentine Gallery, Glenn Brown, 2004, p. 97). This title reveals more than just an insight into his personal taste in music; it provides a doorway to gain access into the obscure visual references in his work. In We'll Drink through it All, This the Modern Age, Brown skilfully mixes fine art and popular culture to create a painting of enormous complexity.