…Henry Brown is a “geomancer” of sorts. His large tondo Revolution contains all sorts of irregularities that add to its overall complexity. The painted image is symmetrical, but the drawing—which is barely visible between the spokes—is not. These penciled-in chords reveal the ground plan that generated the final image, and also mark Brown’s starting point, giving this round painting a fixed orientation. The cold, ultra-white color of this painting, which is edging toward a brilliant intensity, and Brown’s rigid, almost tubular, sense of line, are set off against the eggshell delicacy of his knifed ground, stray marks and compass-point holes. Revolution, of course, can be likened to a medieval rose window, itself another kind of model of the universe, similar in some regards to the Deep Field image.

—Michael Brennan

Deep Field Painting, exhibition catalog, Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, Hunter College, 2000.