Michelle Grabner is known in the contemporary art world for abstract paintings that riff in sophisticated manners on structures, such as mesmerizing lines in silverpoint on black, or multihued crisscrosses of gingham check. She is also noted as a writer and curator with her work on the 2014 Whitney Biennial, and is currently a professor and department chair at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Her recent return to Milwaukee is a way of concentrating her artistic production. She explains, “For the most part, there’s been this realization that I have a lot of work to do in the studio. There’s a lot of things, whether it’s painting or sculpture … I need to get my head down and get to work and be in high productive mode. Milwaukee promises that. I can have family time, I can have studio time, I can work with the resources that are offered here.”
As she muses on the differences between living in the Chicago area and Milwaukee, her thoughts return to the work at hand. Though she travels to art centers such New York and London, a home here offers a chance for fewer distractions. “Some of the chatter is left behind—art world discourse is a bit more removed. Milwaukee is a different kind of center, I think it’s a center of production and efficiency and resources. That is why I am here.”
The city is not a stranger, as she studied at UW-Milwaukee for her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing, and her masters in Art History, and lived in Riverwest. She and her artist husband, Brad Killam, have returned to that neighborhood for the relocation of their gallery called The Suburban. It used to be part of their household in Oak Park, Ill., but now is a newly established space of its own on Fratney Street. This is another retooling of life, as Grabner says. “It’s a different kind of relationship, no longer being attached to the house. We’re still getting used to that. The number-one measure is that all of the artists who’ve come on so far would come back at the drop of a hat. They really love this place so we feel like we’ve done a good job.”
