I began a series of brown encaustic color studies to explore the possibilities of a single color’s expression. The series is a response to mass disenfranchisement under Trump and growing xenophobia against brown skin. Brown is beautiful, despite the fact that some may view it as dirty; the outsider, the enemy. Sinha began these color studies by mirroring the skin of the NYC public school students he taught. He included their names in the artwork titles, creating the only point of reference for the otherwise enigmatic fields of brown. By layering and blending loving and hateful associations to ‘Brown’, Sinha has developed a personal meditation on Otherness. These meditations on ‘Brown’ incorporated expressions of isolation, anxiety, and calm emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Encaustic Brown Color Series continues to develop new ways of thinking about brown as delicate, elegant and inclusive.
The Brown Series
Russet. Skin color studies in brown #12,
Encaustic on Luan Panel, 36” X 40”, 2020
Studies in Skin Color; Brown #1, Encaustic on Luan Panel, 32” X 41.5”, 2018
Student D.C.’s Skin Tones Against Wood, Brown Study #11,
Encaustic on Luan Panel, 36” X 38.25”, 2019
Pandemic Migraines in Brown#3,, Encaustic on Luan Panel, 26” X 40”, 2020
Violence of Brown vs. Brown, Brown #10,
Encaustic on Luan Panel, 36” X 35.5”, 2019
Brown Study #9, Encaustic on Luan Panel, 32” X 34.25”, 2019
Psoriasis. Brown Study #5, Encaustic on Luan Panel, 32” X 39”, 2019
reclaimed wood, 63.5” X 448”, 2022.
Pandemic Migraines in Brown#1, Encaustic on Plywood, 24” X 24”, 2020
Pandemic Migraines in Brown#1, Encaustic on Plywood, 24” X 24”, 2020