Full Disclosure: I went to an art gallery one day, one thing led to another and here we are. I don’t know much about art, but I like words. When collected in a contained space, regardless of intended cohesion, sometimes these words take on a life of their own. Regardless of proper punctuation or standardized syntax, sometimes these words manifest into atmospheres of linguistic articulation made visual. Sometimes… the message is nothing more than the mood conveyed, and the connection between messengers new and old. This… could be one of said times. #kanyeshrug
Rainbow Body is the fourth Solo Exhibition by British performance artist Millie Brown. An evolution of Brown’s original and most recognized performance work, Rainbow Body presents a survey of the artist’s new home in Los Angeles. Developed from Brown’s non-traditional, performance-based methods of painting from the inside-out, Rainbow Body features a post-contemporary study on abstract expressionism within a California palette. Using almond milk, food coloring, stomach and hands, Brown creates aesthetically whimsical paintings with a deep underlining of raw human emotion. Each piece tells the story of the Los Angeles sky, its past and its present, its light and its dark. Viewing the body as a vessel for spiritual practice, Brown pushes physical and mental boundaries to reach a state of enlightenment from which creative expression and healing derives. Rooted in Tibetan Buddhist theology, Rainbow Body is the phenomenon of viewing spiritual transcendence from a third person perspective. Rainbow Body is based on three wisdoms, representing the three categories of paintings: ground, presence, and energy.
First, a miscellany with the curator:
Natology: so rainbow body, reaching spiritual transcendence, is based on three principals: ground, presence, and energy.
sxb: and was that you, did millie come in and …
Natology: Millie said ‘Rainbow Body’ and she said what it was, and i researched it. and then i just know, you know, spiritual evolution doesn’t just happen by being like: ‘alright we’re on the ground floor, on presence,’ and then it’s like, ‘rad, i just passed this layer,’ like it’s this level – it’s not that easy.
you are on your ground, and then you have a moment of enlightenment, and then you reach presence right. but then – you fxxkin fall right back down, and you’re back on the ground!
so, that’s the way that this show is curated… it shows the natural spiritual transcendence.
so right here you know, it starts off with ground, ground, this is the first piece that was ever made.
this piece, all of this concentration, it’s a representation – i mean, and this is all unintentional right – but it represents all of the palettes and all of the energy that she used up until this point in her career and then it disperses into light. and remember when we were talking about the aura that just happens to be around this and it’s just so crazy.
sxb: it’s so mental and i feel like it looks different than it did yesterday
Natology: it does! it always does.
sxb: it seems faded until you see the clear point of distinction in which it’s clearly that, and that’s clearly that. and it’s the mood ring effect…
Natology: this all up here has changed too because of the stomach acid, in the photographs that i have it was much brighter but it’s brought out, the light has brought light into the colors. i think that in art history the things that are going to be most recognized in her work are these negative spaces…
… you know post-contemporary culture, what i call post-contemporary culture – which is where i mostly operate – it’s mostly you know, art as an experience, and as a part of all of us, and as a part of the art form of what we do: fashion, lifestyle, and, how all of these things cross over interrelate into what the post-contemporary dialogue is and will be. so where is art going and you see that right now we’re living in the most exciting times ever because it’s a tipping point it’s a change in paradigm it’s a historical movement.
sxb: an interesting triad you have is art, academia, and advertising. those are three worlds that kind of fight for that same space of controlling the mindset – because really, discourse at the end of the day is what defines everything. it’s not what you see, it’s
Natology: how you say it, how you talk about it, how you perceive it and how you tell the story, how you sell the dream.
… because i think like example for me, one of the things that was limiting about academia was that at the end of the day, and again that goes into any of these fields, is that it ends up being a dialogue amongst a very small group of people, so that you can’t really change anything… that you’re all just going so deep down the rabbit hole that you’re only feeding the ego in that conversation, and aren’t really able to reach a larger audience.
you know, i think that that’s where entertainment really plays in, and how you reach a wider demographic and expand the palette of what is to be the next wave in fashion, art, culture or whatever it is. and again, that all has to do with marketing and advertising… what are the things that work, what are the things that don’t work. there’s a mcdonaldization of culture where everything has been completely watered down and, you know, the mass is just taking what’s fed to them because they’re told that it’s cool – but at the same time you’re having this huge awakening where people who would have never talked about like, a fifth dimension or even just intuition, are talking about it and are like following that intuition and are like being guided to … to what is taking place.
for example: millie brown’s work HIGHLY controversial, highly powerful
sxb: polarizing
Natology: EXACTLY. that another gallerist would frame a completely different story than the one that i framed or would want… you know, she’s not the first artist who has used DNA, or like has used bodily fluids to create art, and with this greed and two dimensional perspective, you have artists that become pigeonholed into becoming an artist that just makes enema paintings, or an artist that just makes chewed-up bubblegum paintings, or an artist that just makes vomit paintings, and the truth is that just limits the creative expression of an individual.
that’s why i say like, this is the last body of work of this particular period because from here – you know, Rainbow Body is a concept of dissolving into light – from here, millie dissolves into light. that’s what the performance yesterday was about, that’s what the series is about, and that’s what the performance at the abramovich institute in may is about. blinded by the light where she’s bathed in light, and surrounded by nothing but light and just you know nasa’s recording of the sun…
and so i think that, and i never noticed the triangles that you pointed out between art, advertising, and academia – but you know, it’s all in how you paint the picture and being able to see understand and to share that story in a way that is … that … that makes sense and that is palatable and that is still super punk rock you know like … i’m still an anarchist i’ve always been super like … on some other sxxt you know like, and a radical, but there’s a way to do it that you know is like… like yesterday when i saw her do her performance i was like, ‘yo, she’s so punk rock! but so elegant and honest and raw in her creative expression.’
… and you know i think, to be punk rock, and this is something i feel like you learn with age… and you know – something that i’ve learned – through time, it’s just, it’s just the way of seeing the world… you know, to be a radical. radical i mean, really just means really getting down to the roots of something…
and you learn how you can work with the cultural and political climate to get your point across and and do it well and do it the right way and and really be able to stir things up from the root
but you know you don’t have to be a dirty punk to do it … – ‘cos your mind’s a dirty punk
it’s about how you can get your point across, and again: it goes back to to the discourse, the dialogue, the conversation – because what is anything: it’s the meaning that we give it.
sxb: … the materialized mentality
Natology: exactly.
(The) Epochauserie 
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