American artist iona rozeal brown (*1966 in Washington, D.C.) examines the struggle of young women to claim and exclaim their authentic selves. Through visually stunning and conceptually rich figurative paintings, brown creates a complex, fantastical mythology that combines folklore, pop culture, autobiography, sociology, and art history. Ranging in tone from playful and whimsical to edgy and unsettling, brown’s new series takes her cultural sampling of African American hip hop and Japanese cultures to new levels. An essay by Megan Lykins Reich outlines rozeal brown’s artistic development and the exhibition’s community-based projects.  Exhibition schedule: Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, January 29–May 9, 2010