American block print artist captures the essence of Shanghai neighborhoods

Editor's note:

Shanghai has been enriched by the many expatriates who have come from all over the world to sink roots in the city and contribute to a melting pot of ideas and cultures. This series introduces you to some of them.

Black and white. Concise lines. Shops, lanes and people. Bustling streets. American-born artist Nicholas Brown uses linoleum block prints, paintings, sketches and photos to capture the essence of life in Shanghai.

Brown, who has been in Shanghai on and off since 2012, lives with partner Jessica Gleeson in a modern apartment building. The scenes below his balcony of old lanes and narrow red-brick streets inspired his "Shanghai Corners" and "Apartments" linocut series, which encompass some 65 pieces.

"I'd like to choose images for my works that people recognize and that people have memories of," he said, citing the example of Cité Bourgogne lane in Huangpu District, where an archway blends Chinese and French architectural styles. "I love it."

Both his series are based on photos Brown takes around the city. The "Shanghai Corners" series features street views that catch his attention – a distinctive shop logo, a sealed-off lane awaiting demolition, a person who somehow stands out.

"Everybody has their favorite Shanghai corner," he said. "These illustrations are often done as commissions for people who are leaving Shanghai and want to capture the view of a favorite spot in a unique way."

Some of his works capture people he meets on his travels around the city. One work features an old lady standing at the door of her home.

"I was taking pictures and there she was," Brown said. "She didn't speak English, and I didn't speak Chinese, but somehow she invited me through her house to show me the courtyard out back. It was beautiful."

His "Apartments" series captures views of the ubiquitous six-story, walk-up apartments so common in the city for the last few decades. The images contain very iconic sights, such as laundry poles jutting out from windows, air-conditioner units hanging on outside walls and tangles of electrical wires.

Brown said that his goal is to capture and combine the interesting features of architecture with the lives of local residents.

Brown spends a lot of time walking and exploring around the city to take the photos that are the starting point of his artwork. The most challenging part of a creation is probably selecting the best picture to work from.

"Sometimes the image isn't quite interesting enough, or it's hard to find one that has enough visual texture going on," he said. "And actually, the more time passes, the harder it is to find those."

Linocut printing especially appeals to Brown because of its simplicity and the ease of making as many prints as needed once a block is done.

"I like just doing black and white," he said. "Some woodblock artists will make the ink lighter in some areas with two different colors. But I don't like the complexity of that. I like just to see the shapes and the lines."

Graduated in 1990 from the University of Washington in Seattle with a major in painting, Brown held nine solo or two-person shows around the United States before he moved to Shanghai. His works are also exhibited in seven museums or galleries, both in the US and China.

Moving to China was a turning point in his life, he said.

Brown first landed in the city 20 years ago, when Shanghai was a very different city from what it is today. He likens it back then to "America in the 1960s and 70s."

By his move to China in 2012, the city had changed dramatically, and keeps changing, he said.

"Life has become more convenient," he said. "I don't have to go to import-goods supermarkets but can buy almost all groceries just around the corner."

One thing hasn't changed. Art supplies remain plentiful.

"When I first came to Shanghai, it was just solid art stores on Fuzhou Road," he said. "I was with Jessica's mother, and she's an artist, too. We were very excited looking at all the supplies for sale."

He added, "You can buy the Western-style brushes for one dollar, where they would cost seven or eight times that in the US. I can also buy canvases for a lot less."

Brown said he never had a flair for learning languages. His Mandarin is limited to social niceties like "hello," "thank you" and "no problem." But despite the linguistic limitations, he said he feels very integrated into his local community. He loves to stop by a small fish shop opposite his home and was a regular of at a nearby pancake shop.

The pancake shop, on the corner of Xiangyang and Yonkang roads, had to close after three decades because of urban renewal. It was run by Deng Shengqing, a native of Hubei Province.

Brown and Gleeson were regulars at the shop. So regular, in fact, that Deng knew their preference for pancakes with "two eggs, cucumber and lettuce" so well that they didn't even have to order.

And when the shop was scheduled for demolition last year, Brown gave the owner a farewell print of the street corner where the old shop stood.

"And I'll definitely stop by her new shop on Julu Road," he said.

For more details about Brown's works and contacts, please check out the links below: www.nicholasbrown.com and www.shanghaicorners.com