Julian Brown lives and works in London and Brighton. He studied at Liverpool John Moores University from 1993 to 1996 and then the Royal Academy Schools, London from 1998 to 2001. His work is heavily influenced by his childhood memories and Polish folk art. In 2012 Julian Brown was shortlisted for the Marmite Prize For Painting and then in 2016 he was selected for the John Moores Painting Prize. Julian Brown has exhibited his artwork nationally and internationally which includes solo shows in London, China and recently in the USA.
Statement
"The imagery in my work is very heavily influenced by my nostalgic visions of the 1980's and the folk art from my mother's Polish heritage. Both of these worlds have a handmade geometric quality that has a playful and primitive relevance to the world we now live in.
I try to explore this with tactile images that sit somewhere between order and chaos, structure and collapse, expression and control. While the underpinning of the process is held together by predetermined structures, the freewheeling application is purposely engaging and ambivalent to the expressive urge to dictate the paintings."
Julian Brown 2025