OPENING EVENT | Leonard Brown — Painting the Celestial

Painting the Celestial is a retrospective exhibition by Ipswich based painter, Leonard Brown.

The art of Leonard Brown is a unique phenomenon in Australian art. He is highly regarded as a painter of sublime, minimal abstract canvases and these paintings are held in major public art collections throughout Australia, including the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia and Art Gallery of New South Wales.

At the same time, Leonard Brown is an accomplished icon painter following the ancient conventions and methods of Byzantine and Medieval Russian icon painting. Many of his icons are consecrated and are in liturgical use in churches throughout the world as well as finding homes in domestic environments and are held in private and public art collections. He is also a figurative artist of repute and was the winner of the Brisbane Portrait Prize (2019) and has been awarded numerous other art prizes including, The Blake Prize for Religious Art (2010).

Painting the celestial is the first comprehensive retrospective exhibition of Leonard Brown’s work to have been presented anywhere in Australia and traces the artist’s development for more than five decades. The Ipswich Art Gallery is being transformed for this exhibition to include a gold-radiating sanctuary where Leonard Brown’s icons can be sympathetically displayed. His abstract paintings are being shown in greater numbers and in more depth than ever before. To enter the world of Leonard Brown’s art is to embark on a transformative experience. Both his painted icons and abstract works have the ability to transport the viewer to a different and more spiritual plane of existence.

Leonard Brown was born in Brisbane in 1949 and he has lived in Ipswich for the past twenty years. This spectacular and beautiful exhibition celebrates the work of one of Australia’s most significant living artists.

Sasha Grishin AM, FAHA
Emeritus Professor, Australian National University
Curator: Painting the celestial: A retrospective exhibition by Leonard Brown

The opening event will be Auslan interpreted by Deaf Connect.