Leonard Brown

Photography by Mick Richards

Leonard Brown’s paintings and subject matter exhibit extraordinary versatility. While he may be best known for meditative abstract paintings that dissolve the boundaries of the material and spiritual worlds, he has increasingly exhibited these with his parallel practice within the convention of Russian icon painting. These areas of artistic interest were described by Emeritus Professor Sasha Grishin AM FAHA as “two sides of the same artistic quest”.

Born in Brisbane in 1949, Brown has had a long and illustrious art practice since his first solo exhibition in 1968. Brown has been the recipient of many notable accolades including winning the Inaugural Lord Mayors Portrait Prize, Brisbane and the Blake Prize for Religious Art.  He is also a three time finalist in the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Works by Brown are held in numerous public collections including National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of Western Australia, QAGOMA, Artbank, Parliament House and the Museum of Brisbane.

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