Alum Mark McAfee Brown Exhibits Prints in Saratoga

SAN MATEO COUNTY TIMES -- A show of landscapes by Mark McAfee Brown is presented at the Saratoga Library Gallery through July 1. Brown calls his works woodless “woodcuts.” In his statement, he says the works “provide a visual diary” of his global travels. While all of his images begin as photographs, his lifelong love of Japanese wood block prints has influenced his artistic process. He earned his Bachelor’s in art from Stanford and a Master’s in printing from San Francisco State University. In his early years he worked with wood and linoleum block prints, then turned to stone lithography, etching, photo silk-screening and cyanotypes, but those methods involved toxic chemicals. Brown notes: “Photoshop saved my health” and now has been his “digital darkroom.” His works offer a landscape image that is “a cross between woodcuts and photographs.” He removes photographic information and distills the images “into simple visual essences” that are at extraordinarily high resolution.