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"There is a lot to discover in Darkly Told. It doesn’t offer immediate answers, nor is it meant to do so, but it will repay careful listening. Hopefully, this chapbook will be successful enough to prompt Alicia Cole to make a few more. Fans are better off for its appearance." - Dead Reckonings No. 18

"Genocide" 2015 24”H X 24”W X 2”D Mixed-Media, Photography, Metal, Assemblage by Ephraim Brown
Ephraim C. Brown is a conceptual, metal and assemblage artist from the Pacific
Northwest. Under the umbrella name of E.C. Brown Anomalies he utilizes a
combination rusty scrap metal, found objects, plasma cut metal parts, digital
photography and warped sensibilities to create iconic, mesmerizing works and
unusual rusty treasures. He believes that there is beauty to be found in the garbage
and treasure can be made from trash. Much of his work has underlying philosophical,
psychological and post-apocalyptic themes. Loneliness, alienation, and the darker
elements of the human condition; along with inspiration and hope in the face of
adversity are a few of the concepts and ideas he explores. His intricate, elaborate
and disturbing pieces were seen at the 2015 Burning Man festival. A few of his pieces
were censored and removed from the Tonasket City Library causing his Distorted
Icons exhibit to be excluded from 2015 Tonasket Art Walk. The themes and aesthetics
of his work often cause him to butt heads with conventional notions of beauty and
taste; along with those who feel that art should be "pretty" and "pleasing to the eye".
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His work has been featured in the Horror Zine, Wenatchee World, the Okanogan
Valley Gazette Tribune and the Statesman Examiner. He is also involved in the
Tonasket-based metal and fabrication shop Hydemade and the Acavallo Carousel
project for Burning Man and beyond; and is the Artistic Coordinator of the Okanogan
Family Faire. Brown believes in the advocacy and promotion of rural American Avant
Gard art and culture, as both can be found in the most unlikely places; especially
where it is ignored, overlooked or even undermined by small-town power-structures
and social mores. He currently lives and works in Okanogan County, Washington.
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Artist Statement
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I seek to create an eclectic mix of seductive, poignant and alchemical pieces made from
found objects and things that other people throw away; i.e. treasures from trash. The
scrapyard, the junk pile, thrift-store curiosities and burned-out circuitry set my
creativity in motion. I see beauty within the rust-coated iron I find at abandoned rural
dump sites and in the scrap bins of local machine shops. From the corroded, discarded
items of Third-World America; I attempt to mold conceptual, iconographic treasures
around surreal, mythological and esoteric themes. The incorporation of my own
photographic works and digital images adds further allure to my pieces.
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I see art as perhaps the highest form of evocation. I therefore seek not only to evoke,
manifest and bring life to strange new archetypal forms; but also to reinvigorate older
images and symbols so that they too may be seen by new eyes and examined in new
ways.
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The tools I use range from the dollar-store paint brush to the oxyacetylene torch.
Though planning and discipline form the bedrock of my work, I allow my visions the
space they need to take on a life of their own. My experience tells me that sometimes
accidents can achieve better results than careful planning; and that what I allow to
happen is often far more interesting than what I want to happen.
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The collage art of Kurt Schwitters, the surrealism of Salvador Dalí, the Assemblage art
of Michael DeMeng, the mythological beauty in the works of John William Waterhouse
along with Dada, Steampunk, Victorian-era wrought-iron, the sacred art of India and
China, Byzantine iconography, and post-Apocalyptic imagery in film are the some of my
more prominent influences.
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