PHILADELPHIA – Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia’s artist-curated exhibition space presents “      ”, an exhibition of new works on paper by Philadelphia artist Gerard Brown. The show opens with a reception on First Friday, November 4, 2011. The gallery is located at 319 N. 11th Street, Philadelphia, PA.

The exhibit of paintings and prints continues Brown’s exploration of the intersections between reading and seeing, and its punctuated title (which can be read as “blank quote” or “smart quotes”) alludes to the use of others words in the work. Two large pieces dominate the show; a multi-panel drawing in gouache on paper translates Frank O’Hara’s 1957 poem “To the Harbormaster” into nautical code flags, and a 32-part digital print conflates images of oceanographic satellite photography with James McBride’s bestselling 1996 memoir, “The Color of Water”. “I want to know what happens when things are misunderstood,” Brown says, “when messages that are encoded are not seen as meaningful, or when an attempt to communicate directly is seen as a formal gesture.” During the run of the exhibit, the gallery will release an essay by artist David Stephens and art writer Robin Rice that discusses the works.

Gerard Brown is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Foundation Department at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. A longtime participant in the Philadelphia art community, he contributed art reviews to the Philadelphia Weekly and Seven Arts magazine in the 1990s and, with City Paper critic Robin Rice, began eyelevel, a newsletter of art criticism that appeared occasionally throughout the late 1990s. He has organized exhibits and contributed essays to galleries and museums throughout the region, and is currently the Resident Scholar at the Center for Art in Wood, where he organized “Turning to Art In Wood: A Creative Journey” in observation of the newly re-named organization’s 25th anniversary. This is Brown’s third one-person exhibit, and his first in Philadelphia.