By Deirdre O'Shea

Last fall, dedicated artist and avid collector Gary H. Brown lost his home in the Tea Fire. Brown, a professor emeritus of art, and his family lost everything, including his extensive art collection.

However, thanks to Brown’s generosity over time, a portion of his vision remains intact. Since 1984, Brown has donated 95 art objects to the University Art Museum. A new exhibit, “Signs of His Times,” honors Brown’s commitment to the museum and the campus by highlighting selections from these many gifts. The exhibition will continue through June 14.

The works on display roughly correspond to Brown’s years teaching at UCSB, from the 1960s to the present. Only one work breaks from that time frame: a 1931 self-portrait by Käthe Kollwitz. Brown donated the small print last fall, a few weeks prior to the blaze. Although the museum offered to return the work to Brown to begin his collection anew, he insisted that the museum retain his gift.

The exhibition will include selections of Brown’s own works, which demonstrate his background in figurative drawing, and will present his most recent work of art, a wood and paper piece entitled “Fortune,” completed in March. Other notable objects in the show, which reflect his engagement with artistic circles, include Joseph Beuys’ multiple “Rose für direkte Demokratie, [Rose for Direct Democracy]” (1973); street posters by Robbie Conal and Ernest Pignon-Ernest; and Sue Coe’s print, “Bush AIDS” (1990).

Collages by Ray Johnson are also a part of the exhibition. Brown had participated in Johnson’s network of Mail Art contributors.

Many selections also reveal Brown’s passionate interest in political issues, from R. Fried’s, “Non-Negotiable Eights” (1971), which was made in response to the 1970 shooting at Ohio’s Kent State University, to the John Bommer collage that implored those affected by AIDS not to give up hope. Brown’s collected gifts demonstrate not only his ongoing interest in art but also his desire for all to keep learning from these objects.

Among other artists whose works are included in this exhibition are Jim Crawford, Allen Ginsberg and Robert LaVigne, Edward Kienholz, Dimitri Kozyrev, Harvey Leepa, Mike Mandel, Matt Tasley, and Andy Warhol.

To complement some of the works on display, the museum invited five members of the UCSB community with connections to Brown to write explanatory labels for selected works. Contributors include Pat Fish, Colin Gardner, Penelope Gottlieb, Kenneth A. Linberg, and Alfred Moir.

For information about the exhibition, visit <http://www.uam.ucsb.edu>.