Ian Brown's printmaking practice explores the mutability of the photographic image and the effects of its translation into other print media. He invariably uses found images - for example, hand-tinted postcards, as seen reproduced along the lower edge of Natural Disaster Variant I (E.1279-2011). The Natural Disaster series was inspired by the global financial meltdown, and the imagery - of erupting volcanoes, fires, and storms - stands as a metaphor for the crisis and its effects, paralleled by the destructive power of natural phenomena.

Brown's prints are explicit about the character of photomechanical print process, and the ways in which visual illusions are achieved. Air/Fire embodies the different readings and effects achieved through the use of different print media. The two images at the top are screen-printed, the one below is a 4-plate etching. Brown is interested in the contrast between the two with etching as a more tangible and physical process because of the way in which the image and the ink and image are impressed into the paper, whereas screenprint is effectively flat, with the ink sitting on the surface.