While Mia Brownell’s paintings may recall classical Vanitas, her food-based compositions invoke contemporary food politics. A critic of the food industrial complex, Brownell creates a juxtaposition between the natural and artificial, modeling her opulent still lifes after molecular structures. Her depictions of shiny apples, bead-like caviar and juicy grapes look almost too good to be edible, hence the title of her upcoming traveling solo show, “Delightful, Delicious, Disgusting.” The exhibition, featuring new work, will premier at J. Cacciola Gallery in New York on January 9, followed by the opening of a ten-year survey of Brownell’s paintings (2003-2013) at the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey on January 12. In 2014, the exhibition will be shown at Juniata College Museum of Art in Pennsylvania and the Housatonic Museum of Art in Connecticut. Take a look at some Brownell’s latest work below.
