Brittany Fanning: Getting Away With Murder

Getting Away With Murder comprises of six lusciously morbid & simultaneously magical paintings as well as five India ink drawings on Arches paper. The drawings are a new addition to Fanning's practice, initially started as studies for her paintings, the ink drawings stand on their own with Fanning's sly and humorous take on two realms - reality and the surreal.

Her imagery is like a CCTV motion detector camera capturing scenes from a production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream set in Los Angeles. I would love to be at the pool side table with the mountain lion, the oysters, cheese and gloriously lush foliage surrounding – and perhaps that flora is filled with many more night time predators who could come share the abundance with us.

Viewing the distinctive voice of Brittany Fanning's work in the two different mediums side by side is a lyrical experience.

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“Brittany Fanning: Getting Away With Murder opens September 16 – October 14. Feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by American society, Fanning has removed human figures from her paintings and begun focusing on contrived garden scenes, chock filled remnants of human life like half-eaten cakes, wines, luxury goods, and excavated (robbed?) graves. Amongst the opulence of the gardens and the litter of nefarious human activities, exotic creatures roam and reclaim the depopulated places. Fanning is essentially creating 21st-century vanitas paintings through a lush, decadent, and playful subject matter and palette examining mortality and morality. Recently Fanning began to render her studies for new paintings with India ink on Arches paper, creating drawings that are more free with their fanciful fictions and emotional in a poetic way by contrast with the emotional power punches of her canvases.”

-Shana Nys Dambrot

(from Shana Nys Dambrot's article for LA Weekly 10th August, 2023)