LaKela Brown
Collard Greens Still Life Composition, 2024.
Cast cotton pulp on (debossed) cotton base sheet. Variable edition of 6 diptychs.

Dieu Donné is pleased to release Collard Greens Still Life Composition, a new Paper Variables edition diptych series by LaKela Brown. Working with Dieu Donné Studio Collaborator Katharine DeLamater, the artist created a variable edition of 6 diptychs by casting cotton pulp into molds modeled off the form of collard green leaves, each with unique compositions.

“This body of work was conceived by the desire to devote space within the genre of still life to objects that represent some of my cultural, generational, and creative identity with Ethnobotany (which involves the uses and significance of specific plants to a culture) as one of my compasses.

The subject of this series is the collard green leaf, which is a plant that I grew up eating as a dish typical of African-American cuisine, prepared by my mother and grandmother. Throughout art history I have observed that the bouquet is a commonly used subject in traditional still life works, and have adapted it as a compositional guide for this series of works made with individually cast leaves that were gathered into deconstructed bouquets.”

–––– LaKela Brown

To collect work from this edition, please explore our Membership Program. Available only at the Patron level.

About the Artist

LaKela Brown is a New York City Based artist born and raised in Detroit.

She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI. Her work has been exhibited around the world in galleries including solo presentations at Lars Friedrich, in Berlin and 56 Henry, in New York City.

Brown's work has been collected by several museums including The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Museum of Fine Art Boston, and the Mint Museum. Brown recently debuted her first solo museum presentation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit.

For more information, please visit
https://56henry.nyc/artists/lakela-brown/information/