Chicago Taking a Beating
This stylized, whimsical rendering of the Chicago skyline bending beneath the infamous wind summarizes the aesthetic practice and life of Roger Brown. Growing up in Alabama, he was fascinated by meteorological events and made studies of these storms and cloud formations. Early on, he considered entering the ministry, and though this never materialized, spiritual issues as they relate to man’s existence on Earth remained within him.
In Chicago Taking a Beating, boldly expressive, dark calligraphic clouds swirl around Chicago’s architectural landmarks: the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), the Aon Building, and the Hancock building. Their soaring heights dwarf the smaller skyscrapers nearby. Though at first glance the cityscape appears devoid of human existence, on closer look nearly every window encloses flat figures silhouetted in black; a few apartments remain empty.
Brown’s painting is appealingly decorative, reminiscent of both comic strips and of Pop Art, yet concomitantly poses the philosophical question concerning man versus nature. Are the towering skyscrapers able to withstand the forces of nature and God, visualized in the threatening winds? Brown clearly warns of the limits of man’s abilities, embodied in the architectural wonders markedly swaying and daring to crash down.
Art was a preoccupation for Brown in childhood, and his parents encouraged his talent. He moved to Chicago for formal training at the American Academy of Art and later at the School of the Art Institute. He became loosely associated with the group of artists known as the Chicago Imagists, and participated in the 1968 Hyde Park Art Center exhibition False Image. He became an internationally acclaimed artist and exhibited widely and often. His life partner, George Veronda, was an accomplished architect, and this alliance likely sparked Brown’s many engaging depictions of cityscapes. The couple moved to Southern California in the late 1980s, building a home there and also establishing residences in Chicago and New Buffalo, Michigan; near completion was a home in Beulah, Alabama when Brown succumbed to HIV, dying at the age of fifty-seven. Today the School of the Art Institute operates his New Buffalo residence as a retreat for faculty and staff and his Chicago residence as a study center.
