The Sussex County Community College Art Gallery presents its newest exhibition, "Tidy Little Mess," featuring paintings by Stephen E. Brown. The Opening Reception took place on Thursday, January 30. The exhibition is running until February 27 in the Art Gallery. Admission is free and open to the community.
Artist Steve Brown makes a long overdue return to the Gallery with his first solo exhibition. The exhibition presents a striking collection of diverse works, ranging from realism to abstraction and experimental forms, unified through a masterful focus on composition.
Steve’s extensive background in graphic design has profoundly influenced his art, enabling him to create pieces where form, negative space, and structure converge to captivate the eye. While each work differs in style and technique, it shares a deliberate balance and sense of harmony.
“I am fascinated by how shapes interact within the frame and attack the edges," says Steve. "Negative space is as important as the subjects themselves, and I aim to create compositions that feel both intentional and alive."
This exhibition celebrates Steve’s ability to blend weight, texture, and light, capturing fleeting moments that resonate with intimacy and movement. The pieces embody a sense of spontaneity while being firmly rooted in visual balance and thoughtful design.
Steve is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries throughout Northern New Jersey. With a foundation in graphic design, his art is recognized for its innovative use of composition and visual storytelling.
This exhibition marks his first solo show in three decades, offering a rare glimpse into his creative evolution. Painting is a verb, which is the way he sees it. Painting has always had both a calming and energizing effect on him. He tries to convey that contradiction with his paintings as if they are pieces of life, pausing momentarily.
Steve works mostly with acrylic paint and ink and combines a paintbrush and airbrush to get the desired effect. He likes to focus on composition, cropping the work to show the subject's energy. Next, he focuses on texture, trying to attain a tactile feel for the surfaces of the forms. He likes his art to fit perfectly on the canvas, making the forms relate to the edges as much as possible.
For more information, please contact James Jeffreys, Gallery Coordinator at jjeffreys@sussex.edu. The Art Gallery is on the main campus in the Art Gallery (C) Building at One College Hill Road, Newton, NJ 07860.