Leonard Brown

You can see all the way to China 2015, Oil on linen, 120 x 120 cm

The Protection of the Mother of God (Prokov) 2009, Egg tempera, 24 kt. gold leaf and gesso on beech wood panel, 61 x 45 cm

Making waves 2014, Oil on linen, framed, 150 x 150 cm

The Three Holy Hierarchs 2008 2008, Egg tempera, 24k gold leaf and gesso on beech wood panel, 32 x 28 cm

Three hours walk from memory 2009, Oil on linen, 122 x 122 cm

Ascent to Delphi 2004, Oil on Belgian linen, 152 x 122 cm

Something that sprung up over night 2000, Oil on linen, 110 x 80 cm

The rising of Lazarus (Lazarus of the four days in the tomb) 2013, Egg tempera, 24k gold leaf and gesso on beech wood panel, 51 x 41cm

Threading needles 1986, Oil crayon on paper, 44.5 x 57 cm

The Moving Finger 2000 2000, Oil on canvas, 122 x 84 cm

The Holy Bishop Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra 2012, Egg tempera, 24 kt. gold leaf and gesso on beech wood panel, 50 x 38 cm

Sky Door 2018, Oil on linen, 200 x 200 cm

Leonard Brown is an Australian painter whose practice moves between two distinct yet spiritually unified modes: the sacred, living tradition of the Byzantine canon of religious iconography and contemporary abstraction.

Brown maintains the living tradition of the Byzantine Orthodox Icon—not as nostalgic revival or an act of reproduction, but as a dynamic visual theology. His icons, shaped by centuries of liturgical and theological tradition, function as spiritual windows and manifestations of the divine, created for and through prayer, meditation, and worship.

In parallel, Brown’s abstract paintings are minimal and contemplative, and exist in dialogue with the icon’s metaphysical intent in a contemporary visual language. These works share the icon’s purpose and intention through a poetics of evocation, in this, supported by the generosity of their abstraction, affirmation is made of the goodness of matter, a worthy vehicle to offer a gateway to the invisible. Deeply rooted in theological understandings of time, eternity, and the soul’s ascent, they invite the viewer into a quiet, sustained visual encounter.

Brown’s work resists categorization, aligning neither fully with Western modernism nor purely with ecclesiastical tradition. Instead, he inhabits a rare space where contemporary painting and Orthodox theology converge, expressing a vision that is both timeless and immediate.

Leonard Browns works are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra; Artbank, Sydney; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand; Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Bundall, Queensland; Griffith University, Brisbane; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Holmesglen Institute of TAFE, Melbourne; Ipswich Art Gallery, Queensland; Royal Children's Hospital, South Brisbane’ LaTrobe University, Melbourne; Macquarie University, Sydney; Moreton Bay Regional Council Art Collection; Museum of Brisbane, Queensland; Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales; Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane; The University of Melbourne, Victoria; The University of Queensland Brisbane; Toowoomba City Art Collection, Queensland; Allen, Allen and Hemsley Collection, Sydney; Allied Queensland Coalfields Limited Collection, Brisbane; The Baillieu Myer Collection, Melbourne; The Philip Morris Art Grant Collection, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and private collections both nationally and internationally.

Off-site Exhibitions

May 29 – Aug 16, 2025

various artists

‘Collecting the Future: 50 Years of the Griffith University Art Collection’

Griffith University Art Museum