Current Exhibition
Hollie Brown, Sparkle Pressure
Through Saturday, April 4, 2026
Gallery hours
Saturday, March 14, 11am-3pm
Saturday, March, 21, 11am-3pm
Saturday, March, 28, 11am-3pm
Friday, April 3, 6–9pm – Artist’s Reception
Saturday, April 4, 11am-3pm – Last Look
Artist’s Statement
Brown’s newest work centers on candid states of fragility, insecurity, and vulnerability. She primarily pulls imagery from television, a cultural echo of chaos, fear, pressure, and humor. Chronicling her own fears, shortcomings, and moments when everything feels heavy and on edge, these latest paintings remain deeply human, highlighting the absurdities embedded in the communal instability and fear we all experience.
The use of reality television, the antithesis of genuineness, is a nod to the dramatic futility of life. Somewhat shamefully experiencing this device as a temporary lobotomy, she is also interested in how shared culture shapes insecurities, expectations, and inner narratives. The figures in her paintings are fragile and sensitive, permeable to the forces surrounding them.
Textured surfaces give form to rough edges and raw emotion. Tangled strings carry the tension of short-circuiting when circumstances become overwhelming. The net suggests both entrapment and protection, being boxed in by gender, age, or the expectations tied to both, while also symbolizing safety. Such dualities recur throughout the work.
Artist Bio
Hollie Brown (b. 1988) is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Abilene, TX. Brown received her BFA in Painting from Texas State University (2012) and her MFA from The University of California, Riverside (2017). From 2018-2020 she lectured on Art and Design at Texas State University and Austin Community College. She currently lectures at ACU and McMurry University, and runs the business “Little Shop of Hollies” which she founded in 2020.
Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions nationally including, Cluley Projects, TX; San Jacinto College, CA; Human Resources Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Spellerberg Projects, Lockhart, TX and Icosa Gallery, Austin, TX. Brown’s work was featured in the 144th issue of New American Paintings.
