Forging new architectures

Collaging invites us to manipulate our worlds. This surrealistic technique synthesizes the remnants of our reality into an alluring, illusory vision. But to create these new worlds, we must deconstruct the old ones. This is the collage's paradox. Artist and architect Marshall Brown emphasizes this evocative contradiction in his Western Exhibitions show, "Remasterisér."

The show features three collage series, "Prisons of Invention," "Piranesian Maps of Berlin," and "Forgeries," which span from 2021 to 2023. Brown's chimerical art presents an imaginary architecture that operates against the limitations of authorship, originality, and form by reenvisioning spaces and structures. In short, he is world-building.

"Remasterisér" investigates the power of creation. Fixating on architecture and modern art, Brown splices photographs and fuses them to supersede their original meaning. This is his first confrontation with authorship, manipulating familiarity. For instance, in The Round Tower, Brown takes one of the Marina City towers and moves it to a mountainous highway. This simple recontextualization divorces the images from their origin, permitting them to join the new world emanating from the entire collection. Similarly, Piranesian Maps of Berlin places us in a city that never existed, representing the amalgamation of all the places that could’ve been.

His collages emerge from the juncture of dreaming and rebellion. In "Remasterisér," he escapes the confines of authorship by subverting a world founded on rules and limitations. Instead, he breaks down these partitions and offers a frontier where our imaginations can blend freely.

"Remastériser"Through 6/17: Tue-Sat 11 AM-6 PM, Western Exhibitions, 1709 W. Chicago, westernexhibitions.com

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