Margaret Zox Brown
Margaret Zox Brown is an oil painter, painting the beauty she has found in the everyday. Her paintings are figurative representations and large in size, signifying the abundance of life. And because she sees and thus expresses these everyday moments as exceptional, she also makes them expressive in color with the intention of seeking pure awe.
Brown's work is about connection. Her paintings are of authentic feelings and intimate realities that she has experienced firsthand. During her most challenging times of living in New York as a single mother, she chose to paint the beauty she saw. This is what got her through difficult times. Today, she makes work that highlights the beauty of everyday life. This focus, expressed through representational painting, allows anyone to identify with it.
Brown starts by recognizing a feeling, mood, moment, gesture, or even shape that moves her. Then she looks for the scenes or objects that will help bring these feelings out. She draws initially to find the essence of these feelings and also in order to see. Then she paints, getting out the whole emotion she is exploring. All these steps, from thinking and feeling to drawing, painting, and finishing, allow Brown to connect organically to each painting, satisfying the fullness of feeling she is pursuing.
Brown lives in New York City's Greenwich Village and works in her Garment District studio. She attended the Chapin School in New York City and Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where she studied Psychology. For nearly three decades, she perfected her painting technique in weekly studio sessions at the 92nd Street Y. Brown's paintings are in private collections worldwide, as well as in public spaces including Danny Meyer’s restaurant, Maialino, and the lobby of the commercial building at 462/470 7th Avenue, NYC, among others. The artist has been featured in notable interviews, both on television and in print.
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Who and/or what are your influences when you were first starting out vs. now?
When I was first starting out, I was predominantly influenced by master artists whose work I would see at museums. At that time, I was always drawing, and when one of my own drawings stood out to me and felt strong, I would create a painting from that, influenced by the masters I knew and loved. Now, my influences are much more expansive and varied. I still love master artists' works, but I see a lot of contemporary art that I love and am always going to galleries, soaking up so much art that moves me. I still paint from my own drawing, yet now I think of a feeling or a mood or a moment that I want to express. Then I find a scene or scenes that can help me do this. I take lots of photographs and then piece those together for my drawing, which in turn becomes the reference for my painting.
What is your favorite thing about the material/s you use?
I am an oil painter and I use different mediums that each have a different viscosity. I love to play with the paint, making marks that are thick and chunky to ones that are slippery and drippy, and everything in between. I paint with a palette knife more than a brush because I love getting my hands as close as possible to my mark-making. I even sometimes smear with my hands! I really feel like I am making something, just like when I was a child.
What would you say is hidden just underneath the surface of your work? Meaning, what are you revealing to your viewers?
Hidden under the surface of my work is the beautiful soul inherent in life as I see it. From my figures to objects or still life scenes, life as beautiful is what is always there.
Can you tell us about a turning point in your practice? Was there a moment when things started clicking?
There were two turning points for me with my work. The first was about 20 years ago when I was taking an Advanced Oil Painting class at the 92nd Street Y in NYC. I was introduced to transparent colors, which changed so much for me. The layering, the light, the glow, and the revealing of other prior moments enabled me to express so much more deeply. The second turning point for me happened in 2018 when I embarked on my New York Characters series. At that time, I realized that expressing my world was what drove me and what I needed to do in order to connect with the rest of the world. So it went from my great city to my home during COVID, to now—the everyday as it is for me, and I believe it is for many.
In honor of our women’s issue, who are three women and/or gender nonconforming artists that inspire you?
Alice Neel is top of list for me. The soulfulness of her figures is truly awesome. I love Maud Maiden's art, whose figures are so up close that the intimacy is undeniable. And Zoey Frank's work as a true maximalist is magnificent.
