Roger Brown

"Roger Brown, (1941-1997) was born in Hamilton, Alabama, and was raised in Opelika, Alabama. His traditional upbringing might have developed into a future in a church ministry or the family business until he discovered the arts and moved to Chicago.
In Chicago, he studied at the American Academy of Design and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, receiving bachelors and masters degrees from the latter. Brown’s eclectic and enormous personal collection of art and artifacts ranged from outsider and folk art, to countless articles of popular culture. His personal collection, particularly the work by self-taught artists, influenced his own art.
Chicago Imagism is the stylistic American art movement with which Roger Brown’s name has become synonymous. In his own words, Brown discussed this movement: ""Chicago has not exactly taken over as the nation’s art capital, but it was the birthplace in the mid 1960’s of what I feel has become a significant movement in recent art history. That movement is concerned with the making of art as an individual and very personal endeavor. Inspiration is taken from the raw, direct art of the naïve or folk artist whose work is unencumbered with pretentions [sic] to ‘high art.'"" The artist’s own statements declared the individuality of each artist, including himself, and his desire to avoid classification by art critics.
Brown’s painting style is unique and immediately recognizable as he utilized the world around him as his tableau. He attacked critical and contemporary issues from political, religious, and artistic arenas. ""My work is really about wherever I am, what I’m involved in, whatever I’m experiencing. It’s involved with Chicago, a lot of it’s involved with daily news events. Sometimes it goes back and deals with things from my own personal background, from my own family history.""
More specifically, Southern ties remained relevant throughout Brown’s oeuvre. He stated, ""…what I feel is influential, being a Southerner, in my work, is just the tendency toward being interested in narrative. I don’t feel narrative is something that has to be left out of painting."""
[Source: Unknown and currently being researched.]