Commentary

That doubleness (being orderly and mysterious at once) is central to Brown’s achievement. Her art is rigorous without becoming cold, intimate without becoming slight, handmade without becoming precious. Above all, it restores to looking a sense of discovery. These works remind us that a world can be built from almost nothing: a scrap, a fold, a repeated shape, a modest rule lovingly pursued. In Brown’s art, the smallest forms keep opening outward; They do not simply occupy space; they make it.

~ Alejandra Russi and Frank Maresca, Ricco Maresca Gallery

Our visitors (at Fenimore Art Museum) enjoyed and engaged with the exhibition, interacting with the work in their own ways. Quilters found inspiration in colorful paper patterns, kids related to the almost familiar games, fantastical interiors and still-lives tickled the imagination of old and young alike…Her work invites us to look a bit more closely at the everyday objects and experiences in our lives, to find joy and imagine what if. It’s an opportunity to toy with the world and how we view it.

~ Chris Rossi, former director of exhibitions Fenimore Art Museum

The range and development of Laurie’s art is impressive and unlike most artists’ progression. It is not so much directional as layered. Her inquisitiveness will often take her in a new directions a variation on a theme, or to an entirely new experiment; but then an idea will sprout, and she may find herself once again in previously familiar territory. Her range of both abstract and representational work is intensely personal and unique. Certainly being a lover of art and frequent museum and gallery visitor informs her eye but there is no imitation in her work…To journey through the artwork of Laurene Krasny Brown is to take a journey through the life of the artist.

~ Patrick Bell, founder Olde Hope Antiques

One might suppose that art inspired in part by quilts and still-life theorems would be essentially feminine in nature. But there is a sharp, brilliant clarity to Krasny Brown’s vision that is fundamentally cerebral. A life of purpose dedicated to humanistic concerns underlies her conscious mining of folk art techniques and traditions. The genesis of these ideas might provide structure and context, but the iterations represent choices, possible futures. The work appears precise and perfect, but there are irregularities: patterns that don’t quite match up at seams; strips that detour subtly from their neighbors; slight-intentional-imperfections that make the art human rather than mechanical. Unlike the lone traveler in Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, Laurene Krasny Brown’s art holds the promise to explore the multitudinous paths that we do to get to travel in life: the curious “what ifs” of the elections we make.

~ Stacy Hollander, former chief curator of American folk art, American Folk Art Museum

Laurene Krasny Brown’s collage practice is a tactile, elegant love letter to American folk art and early visual culture. She has amassed a stellar collection of textiles, painted furniture, and folk art and objects, and lives amidst the things that inspire her work, sleeping under quilts, sitting in painted Windsor chairs, utilizing early baskets and boxes and vessels. Her deep familiarity with her source material makes the elements that she embraces in her art — and those she deliberately omits — all the more powerful.

~ Cara Zimmerman, head of Outsider and American folk art, Christie’s New York

"Sanctuary of the Square" is magnificent. Serious in its subject and tonality, the exhibition raises a few of the most important questions of the current epoch. What is freedom? Where does it come from? What is security? Is it possible? Can freedom and security coexist? Does either truly exist at all?

The show is comforting in its playfulness and mastery of craft and simultaneously terrifying, as it does not shy away from the harsh realities we face. Instead, the work appeals to our more noble characteristics and suggests that yes, we can do better, but hard work is required and honesty is key.

~ Brian Morris, Brian Morris Gallery

In times of turmoil and upheaval, it is reassuring to experience art that is uplifting and spiritually vibrant. Discovering the art of Laurie Krasny Brown has been one of the pleasures of my art experience these past few years. Each visit to her studio was a bit like entering a Pandora's box of marvels. Her experiments in cutting up and piecing together intricate patterns of shifting colors have evolved in surprising ways. Working with simple materials such as paper, wire and string, she pieces together lyrical works of art on an intimate scale. When it comes to color, the works resonate in ways that are experienced viscerally and come close to visual magic.

~ Aarne Anton, American Primitive Gallery

Laurene Krasny Brown creates handsome and intricate works on paper, evocative of the finest American Folk Art in their color, textures, scale and spirit.

~ Brooke Davis Anderson, Executive Director, Prospect New Orleans

Laurene Krasny Brown offers us these exquisitely ordered assemblages... that draw us in and nurture our souls. Her work is truly and completely original, tantalizing the eye with a complex metamorphosis of color... like visual symphonies.

~ Barbara Krakow, Barbara Krakow Gallery

Rarely does a riot of pattern capitulate to quiet and motionless order the way it does in Laurene Krasny Brown's work. Even the witty use of materials does not disrupt the stilled, iconic refinement of her art. Symmetry, perpendicular intersections, repetition, and deep close-value color all contribute to its equilibrium and restraint. A unique, finely crafted body of work that crosses boundaries between painting and sculpture.

Asylum, an installation, takes the cumulative effect of pattern and order to higher frequency. The attentive hand, so present in Brown's other works, gives way to optical reverberations that take this work into edgier, more anxious space.

~ Meredith Fife Day, Art New England

I was fortunate enough to witness Laurie's solo exhibition, Paper Route, from its inception, and what a pleasure it was to observe Laurie's thorough commitment to excellence in both the creation of works... as well as other facets surrounding the show's production. She radiates "excellence" in all endeavors.

~ Suzan Redgate, Executive Director, Copley Society of Art

Scissors play a major role in Laurene Krasny Brown's working hours. With them, what starts out as a mammoth roll of heavyweight ivory-colored paper becomes, in her gifted hands, works of art bathed in color. Other shippable materials such as waxed linen, wire mesh, and corrugated cardboard have also crept into her compositions, which range from tiny to as big as a room.

~ Estelle Bond Guralnick, The Boston Globe