Gemma Browne is an Irish artist born in London and based in Dublin. She has exhibited widely in Ireland and internationally and has received many awards including from the Arts Council of Ireland. Recent shows include Irish Art Now, Pallas Contemporary Projects at The Irish Georgian Society, Paper Cuts at Saatchi Gallery, London, SuprEYES at the Lexicon Gallery, Dun Laoghaire, While Supplies Last in Seattle,Faces, Places and Spaces at New Art Projects in London and Got It For Cheap at Agnes B HQ in Paris and The Hole Gallery, New York. She has taken part in ARCO Madrid, Athina Athena, Manchester Contemporary and Atlanta Contemporary Art Fairs.
In her artwork Browne`s female characters are doll like and a bit unreal. They don`t depict a particular person or story but are fragments of memories or are drawn as emotional responses to events. She creates fake environments in her work, so houses look like doll houses and nature is a suggested garden or imagined place. The figures and sets are like props for different feelings. Her colours are usually bright, varied and enticing but there is a vaguely sinister disquietude present in the pieces. Equally, the subjects depicted can be beautiful say a doll face, flower or dress but there is also a sense of frustration in the scenarios. Browne draws and paints very instinctively based on mood or feeling but there are also recurrent feminist themes in her pictures, as the homes or pretty gardens could also be trapping, domestic environments. There is a disjoint between her subjects and their settings, they appear to be a bit fragmented or out of place. There is a beauty and exuberance in her work but also hints of discomfort and frustration simmering not too far under the surface!