In challenging or uncertain times, Crown is able to process her feelings and experiences, find understanding and inner resolve by returning to her art. During a late 2019 visit to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, she was drawn to the recreation of a Buddha statue that was melted and effaced by “Fat Man,” the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945, which brought an end to World War II.

In response, Crown poured her creative energy into the BUDDHA series, an exploration of the spiritual icon’s form as echoed in the shape of a mushroom cloud. The images are heart-wrenching and represent the tragic legacy of the nuclear weapon. They embody the moment of that fateful explosion, and turn each viewer into a witness of historic destruction.

At the same time, the paintings are hopeful and uplifting, and they offer a sense that we can–and will–do better. Crown reinterprets the sculpture’s form, layering on a variety of mediums to build up the surface. The original icon and its new iterations remind us that after destruction, there is glorious renewal.