MICHELLE BROWN ‘s exhibit  “Something is Not Quite Right” Feb.14 – Mar 7, 2015. Opening Reception Sat. Feb. 14, 6 – 9pm at Imperfect Gallery on Greene St.

Even the apparently lovely can sometimes hide things not only less lovely but very unsettling. That’s a feeling visitors might come away with at Michelle Brown’s (formerly Michelle Burton) “Something Is Not Quite Right” show, set to open February 14 at the iMPeRFeCT Gallery in Germantown.

The show itself consists of some two dozen paintings, painted quilts and furniture, whose subjects are mostly symbols of nature. At first one is charmed by their bright colors and patterns, but looking more closely one finds things like trees losing their foliage, flowers their petals, subtle signs that things here are not quite right.

The inspiration for this show was a most unpleasant event in the artist’s own life. It came about when Brown as a young wife and mother discovered that the man she had married was a child molester — a discovery that has given much of her subsequent work its troubling edge.

The ReDRooM will have the installation “Little Girls, Seven and Eight, They Lose Their Flowers Everyday” by Renny Molenaar where he also tackles the all too common yet tabooed sexual abuse of children.

Both of these exhibits will run from February 14 to March 7, with an opening reception Saturday, February 14, 6-9 p.m. There will also be an artist talk with Michelle and Renny on Wed. Feb. 25, at 7pm. For more information about these events, or about the artists, contact Rocio Cabello or Renny Molenaar at iMPeRFeCT Gallery.

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