Adrien Brody is more than just an Oscar-winning actor — he’s also a painter.
The Brutalist star is currently showcasing his latest collection of mixed-media work titled “Made in America” at Eden Gallery in New York City, from now until June 28. The pieces feature a slew of pop culture references, including Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Marilyn Monroe and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Rats and mice are also prominent in the actor’s artwork — an ode to Brody’s time in New York City.
“I grew up in New York, where rats and mice were everywhere, and it’s symbolic to me for many reasons,” The Brutalist star told Cultured magazine. “I always felt for the rats and the mice that I would see in the subways on the way to school — how everybody would be disgusted.
The actor’s collection is receiving mixed reviews, with some critics slamming his work as “mediocre” and “horrendous” while The New York Times described Brody as an “impassioned painter.”
“With its faux naïve aesthetic and its mediocre production value, Brody’s works beg the question: Why are we still talking about them?” one critic wrote in artnet. “The simple answer is that it tends to be considered newsworthy when a celebrity reveals their art. (See also: Hunter Biden, George W. Bush, Jim Carrey, Lucy Liu, and co.) But it also seems no coincidence that said art often tends to be pretty subpar. Fame tends to afford a certain aura to the people who receive it, and fans will always follow.”
A painting of Brody’s featuring a cut-out image of Marilyn Monroe against a collaged background recently sold at the amfAR Cannes Gala for a whopping $425,000. Guy Klimovsky, Eden Gallery’s chief executive, told the Times that Brody is “real” and “himself.”
“Yes, people will come because it’s him, but they will forget,” he continued of the actor’s art short. “Because when I see an artwork, without knowing who made it, the artworks are rich. They’re interesting. They have a story connection to the U.S., the story of the U.S., to the icon of the U.S.”
Still, art critic Annie Armstrong wrote that she has spent “enough brain cells trying to dissect” the actor’s work.
“The only noticeable difference between Brody’s efforts and those of any garden-variety red-chip artist is how often he peppers in his own visage,” Armstrong continued in her “Wet Paint” column.
At the same time, Armstrong praised Brody for making what she called “an interesting move.”
“So much red-chip art relies on celebrity iconography, so it’s intriguing to see a papier-mâché cut-out of Brody himself plastered to a canvas with an outsized Basquiat crown painted over his head,” she continued. “He understands the canon.”
Fresh off his 2025 Oscars win for his work in The Brutalist, Brody told The New York Times that he’s throwing himself back into his artwork because he’s sans any movie or TV work.
“I’m an unemployed actor at the moment,” he told the publication in a review published on Wednesday, June 4. “I know that if I don’t do it now, I won’t do it for another long period of time. It’s kind of this time to let it go.”
