Past Present Future
Magenta Plains
Press Release:
Magenta Plains is pleased to present an installation of new paintings by Melissa Brown on view June 15 – July 27, 2016. The title Past Present Future points to a popular Tarot spread wherein the meaning of the card and the meaning of the position in the spread is used for fortune-telling.
Brown’s paintings and animations are often influenced by playing cards and other fantasy-related paper ephemera such as money and lottery tickets. During Nuit Blanche in 2009, she hosted ‘How To Win The Lottery’ in the Toronto financial district, a performance with the goal of winning the lottery with thousands of other people by playing identical sets of numbers.
In her installation at Magenta Plains, Brown will display large-scale, double sided paintings on corrugated aluminum in a configuration which discloses her personal Past and Future but hides her Present. On June 20, the spread will transform and reconfigure, aided by a performance conceived by Brown which involves a collective fortune-telling and divination reading for the public, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.
Press:
Going Behind Time: Melissa Brown at Magenta Plains
The Ridge, 2016; oil, flashe, on aluminum panel; 60 in x 40 in
The Fool, 2016; acrylic, resin, flashe on aluminum panel, 60 in x 40 in
All Hands on Deck, 2016; acrylic, resin, flashe on aluminum panel, 60 in x 40 in