BIO Ashlynn Browning earned BA degrees in Studio Art and English from Meredith College and her MFA in painting and printmaking from the University of NC at Greensboro. She has received grants and residency fellowships from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, United Arts Council, Vermont Studio Center, and Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Select exhibitions include the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC, The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, Whitespace, Atlanta, GA, CUE Foundation, New York, NY, and Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC. Browning’s work was featured in the 2009, 2015, and 2020 Southern Edition of the national publication, New American Paintings. She has been reviewed by The Brooklyn Rail, Burnaway, The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her work is included in the recently released book Art of the State, featuring a selection of NC artists. Browning is represented by Whitespace, Atlanta, GA, Sugarlift Gallery, New York NY, and IdeelArt, London, UK. Her recent curatorial projects include an exhibition of contemporary painting entitled Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting for the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC. ARTIST STATEMENT My work contains a hybrid of geometric and organic forms created through an intuitive painting process. The forms in the paintings often function as stand-ins for figures, each one exhibiting its own personality and implied psychological narrative. Some of the forms are vulnerable and contemplative. Others are headstrong and daring, their dynamic postures barely contained within the panel's parameters. Experimenting with the tension between opposing forces is another important part of my work. Bold color is set against muted, geometric forms mix with organic, and pattern and texture play off of smooth color fields. These are variables that I add and subtract repeatedly through a lengthy process until the form comes into itself as a separate and complete entity. The many layers in the paintings speak not only to the history of their creation, but also to the concealed parts of ourselves that we hold back. Windows into under layers reveal hidden depths and untold stories. Each form in the painting is a veiled spirit that gives hints at its true nature, while simultaneously masking or obscuring parts of the puzzle.