Brownscoff described herself as a neo-Depressionist torn between Classicism and the Absurd. "My eye and brain are strictly Classicist," she once said, "but my art belongs to Dada." In the subject painting Brownscoff has laid down a detailed, finely-executed rendition of the traditional scene, then broken from tradition by adding in the distance the sort of large helium balloons generally associated with the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City.

"I think what I was trying to do was make some kind of la-di-da, artsy-fartsy sociopolitical comment on how commercialism has ruined what used to be a religious commemorative event," she said during an interview with SPLAT! magazine. "I mean, I thought to myself, look, you've got two anachronisms in there anyway, the 19th century log cabin and the western Sioux war bonnet, so what the hey? — another one won't hurt. I think I was also off my meds at the time, although I can't really be sure — I don't remember a whole lot of what happened after World War I. Ernie Hemingway and I used to get pretty blitzed on absinthe and you know what that does to your brain after a while." 

---------------

Acquisition sponsored in part by grants from the Butterball® Division of ConAgra Foods®, by Ocean Spray® Cranberries, Inc., and by Macy's®/Federated Stores® Corp., where you'll find "American Tradition on the E-Z Payment Plan"™ All products and services are of China origin.

 

 

BACK          NEXT