NADA New York: Coady Brown and Maria A. Guzmán Capron

Shulamit Nazarian is pleased to present new works by Philadelphia-based painter Coady Brown and Oakland-based fiber artist Maria A. Guzmán Capron for NADA New York 2022.

Coady Brown’s paintings examine how figures navigate self-presentation in private and public life. Clothing, for Brown, is a distinct marker and extension of one’s psyche. She often depicts vibrant and chaotic patterns that both camouflage her subjects and allow them to be unabashedly present and visible. The body is rendered with exaggeration, often androgynous, and assertively occupying most of the picture plane.

Through a combination of hand-sewn textiles and paints, Maria A. Guzmán Capron joins together a raucous array of patterns and striking colors to fashion bodily forms. Capron’s shaped tapestries are rooted in her background as an immigrant. Born in Milan to Colombian and Peruvian parents, and later relocating to Texas as a teenager, Capron explores how clothing is used as a marker of class, gender, and identity. Merging figuration with abstraction, these works explore cultural hybridity, pride, and the competing desires to assimilate and be seen.

Through vibrant brushstrokes and patchwork, Brown and Capron construct various permutations of fluid identities. Their interlaced figures confront the viewer, reflect intimate relationships, and become an invitation for vulnerability and individual expression.

Coady Brown (b. 1990, lives and works in Philadelphia, PA) is a painter from Baltimore, MD. She received her MFA from Yale University in 2016, and her BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in 2012. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally with Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA; Stems Gallery, Brussels, Belgium; 1969 Gallery, New York, NY; Taymour Grahne, London, England; and Francois Ghebaly, New York, NY; among others. She is the recipient of several fellowships and residencies including Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME; The Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA; Fountainhead, Miami, FL; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; and the Yale/Norfolk School of Art, Norfolk, CT. Her work has been written about in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Juxtapoz, Variable West, and New American Painting. Brown’s works are in the permanent collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, the Columbus Museum of Art, OH, and the X Museum, Beijing, China.

Maria A. Guzmán Capron (b. 1981, lives and works in Oakland, CA) was born in Italy to Colombian and Peruvian parents. She received her MFA from California College of the Arts in 2015 and her BFA from the University of Houston in 2004. Solo exhibitions include Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA; Texas State Galleries, San Marcos, TX; Premier Junior, San Francisco, CA; Roll Up Project, Oakland, CA; and Guerrero Gallery San Francisco, CA. Select group exhibitions include Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco; Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA; Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA; pt.2 Gallery, Oakland, CA; NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA; CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA; Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art, Buffalo, NY; Deli Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; and Mana Contemporary in Chicago, IL. Her works have been written about in Hyperallergic, Variable West, Bomb Magazine, and Art in America. The artist has a forthcoming solo exhibition at the Blaffer Art Museum of the University of Houston in 2022.