Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Stomach acid dream

Mia Brownell
New Haven, USA

My work is a meditation on the genetic makeup of food, inviting the viewer to celebrate life in its most fundamental state. By intertwining clusters of ripe fruit in meandering structures suspended in space, I embrace a fusion of traditional still-life techniques and scientific models of proteins. The paintings express a realization that the act of chewing food is an elaborate intersection between many things including self, body, body image, other species, agriculture, culture, industry (industrialized food complex), and biotechnology.

 


 

Still Life with First Fruit Still Life with Sweet Dreams

Still life with first fruit, 2010
Oil on canvas
60” x 48”

Still life with sweet dreams, 2010
Oil on canvas
48” x 60”

 

 

Still life with cell signal

Still life with cell signal, 2010
Oil on canvas
16” x 20”

 

 

Still life with chemical synthesis Still life with gastric peptide

Still life with chemical synthesis, 2010
Oil on canvas
11” x 9”

Still life with gastric peptide, 2010
Oil on canvas
30” x 36”
Private collection, Boston, MA; courtesy of Sloan Fine Art, NYC

 


 

MIA BROWNELL, MFA teaches painting and drawing in New Haven at Southern Connecticut State University and has had solo exhibitions in several cities in the US including New York, Boston, and Washington, DC. Her paintings are in several private, corporate, and public art collections such as Wellington Management, Fidelity Investments, and the National Academy of Sciences. Her work has been reviewed and published in The Boston Globe, The Village Voice, New York Times, Artnet and HiFructose Magazine. Recently, she participated in the Aldrich Museum’s Radius program for emerging artists and completed a visiting artist residency at The American Academy in Rome. Visit her website at http://www.miabraownell.com/.

 

Highlighted in Frontispiece Winter 2012 – Volume 4, Issue 1
Winter 2012  |  Sections  |  Gallery

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