The founding vibrations of the electric guitar guide artist Inga Kimberly Brown into a fantasy of art. Her visualizations through oil on canvas paintings become real and true to the magnetic world that surrounds her.
A Philadelphian at heart, she has traveled the world like a jigsaw puzzle and now she shares her experiences through her paintings. Her journeys have inspired her to see the Earth and have allowed her paintings to be positive vibrations of good energy for all.
She debuts at the ArtJaz Gallery’s Visual Pathways Group Exhibition through Jan. 31.
The Temple News: How would you describe your art?
Inga Kimberly Brown: I do a Verdaccio style of painting. I do underpainting, so under each painting is [another] painting. I concentrate on shadows, and then I use the color over it as a very light finish. My art is my vision, a passion. When I paint, I can be in front of canvas for 12 hours and not realize the time that’s passed by.
TTN: If your painting Red Bone could speak, what would she say?
Brown: She would say that she is from a mixture of roots of white American, Scottish, English, Lumbee and Cherokee Indian, and black African slave descent. She had breast cancer, was hip in rock ‘n’ roll, and she was proud of her roots and the color that they came in. Not coming from riches but coming from country people, southern people. That is what she is, a Redbone.
TTN: How does rock ‘n’ roll influence your art?
Brown: It influences it so much. I book rock bands as well. A lot of artists really get influenced by music. They go into a center, and they feel they see things. It almost becomes visionary, and it is almost like they help each other. To be able to pick what music may be channeling or what that vibration may be channeling and putting it out on canvas – you never know what’s going to come out of it.
TTN: How did the electric guitar open up the visualization to your work of art?
Brown: My mother bought me an electric guitar when I was about 12 or 13 along with lessons. It opened me up to art, it was my style. I have an eclectic style, and as an artist you are just attracted to musicians all around you. It’s a sound and vision thing.
TTN: If you couldn’t paint anymore, what would you be doing?
Brown: I would be singing and dancing, or I would want to raise children. I believe that is another art form we overlook. I think it takes a wise person to be able to guide another soul, another person that may have been here before. Being a parent would be interesting. It would be something to conquer.
TTN: As a woman with such power creatively and spiritually, who inspires you?
Brown: The old masters do inspire me. I remember reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. He was really powerful. [The book’s message was to] accept the gift that you are here to do and just do it. Inspiration, I don’t really follow any one person, but I admire many artist and musicians. My mother is a great inspiration.
TTN: Why do you regard yourself as psychic?
Brown: I have visions, and they come true. Sometimes, they may even come true five minutes before it happens or two weeks before it happens. They often come through dreams or just like a premonition, something that you already knew. [I] act on that first instinct, first gut feeling or first thought that comes in.
TTN: What is your current state of mind?
Brown: My current state of mind is all about understanding my karma. I chant the Lotus Sutra, and I used to chant the Nirvana Sutra. I am chanting now, trying to control my own universe and at least be in tune and in harmony. I am in a state of mind into painting more, including more people even with myself in my own paintings. My state of mind is very into family, success in my universe and trying to make success out of the things that I was given.
TTN: How do you want to be remembered in this life?
Brown: I want to be remembered as an independent woman and a beautiful woman of color – a courageous, strong, healthy, quiet, wise woman. I want to be remembered as a dancer, a writer, a poet, a spiritual woman, a soulful woman. I would like to be remembered as a good loving person that reached out and touched with good vibrations – a vibrating person, somebody who vibrates good energy.
Sandra Rollins can be reached at sandra.rollins@temple.edu.
What a lovely article and much more what beautiful art! I will keep my eye open for this artist. I did see the show! The paintings were so big and beautiful and full of color!!