50 Contemporary Paintings at the Milwaukee Art Museum

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Co-curated by Margaret Andera and Michelle Grabner, the exhibition “50 Paintings” inhabits the Bradley Family Gallery at the Milwaukee Art Museum until June 23 and features 50 individual paintings by 50 artists who are connected by their application of traditional painting media on rectilinear substrates. According to didactic text, the works “demonstrate an extensive aesthetic scope and underscore the many strategies and styles shaping the art form today.” 

So what can be said of such a diverse cross-section of 50 unrelated contemporary paintings? A lot, actually. Namely that all cross-sections have their own particular angle-of-entry. The works in “50 Paintings” are indeed diverse in form, strategy and style; Grabner and Andera have a good read on the attitudes that are bubbling in contemporary art studios, as well as the histories from which they’ve sprung. For instance, the hyper-detailed, cheeky rendering of Jake Troyli’s Self-portrait as a Country Club Legend is offset by Cecily Brown’s nearby Pretty Stories and Funny Pictures. To compare the two is to compare generational points-of-view. Brown, the elder, was cut from a world where essence came through process, while Troyli’s figuration sacrifices “how” on the altar of “what.” While “how” wonders, searches, and stumbles, “what” signals with crisp resolution. 

Similarly, another way to imagine your details, the title of Carmen Neely’s canvas of noodly scarlet and pink brushstrokes, breaks the fourth wall in a way that Amy Sillman’s equally abstract but far more searching Untitled work doesn’t. Neely seems more interested in arriving than searching, which isn’t necessarily a criticism. Rather, they might be a rich inheritance. Outward clarity and self-awareness may be a privilege gained from standing on the shoulders of the introspective giants who came before. Perhaps the time of circumspection has given way to a period of resolution and action. Call it the Apotheosis of Walter Benjamin. 

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Still in other ways this show is a meditation on the nature of the nature of painting. Which is to say it’s a show about the expansiveness of art and any attempt to get one’s arms around it. Supporting wall text in the exhibition notes that “50 Paintings” “celebrates the tradition” of surveys of this sort. Consequently, the show confronts the tradition of curating in the same way many younger painters confront the tradition of making paintings, where being something matters less than being about something. 

Authentic and Inauthentic

And still more, the show seems to show signs of the cosmic battle that will come our way when art and culture begin the struggle for what is authentic and inauthentic. Not for what is real or fake stuff, but for the philosophies about that very potential. Artists in the exhibition like Angela Dufresne, Matt Connors, and Peter Barrickman reflect a commitment to the belief that the act of creative endurance might save us; that the humanity in art alone might resist the bots and search results from the first round of history. Others in the show willfully embrace the bounty of technology as viable content for the next stage of history. 

There’s one more dimension to glean from this surprisingly provocative little show, though it takes the reading of some text and tea leaves. With so much of the tradition and agency of art up for grabs, and so many alternative opportunities presenting themselves, it’s interesting to note that few institutions, MAM included, choose to look beyond the basic gallery-industrial complex to aim the direction of their cross-sectioning. I’m an insider, not one necessarily inclined to dismantle the system from inside the walls, but I can see as well as anyone that the barbarians are at the gate. So we might as well wave to them. “50 Paintings” does fine work of taking a core sample from within the city wall, but it might be time a survey exhibition, especially one about survey exhibitions, recognizes what’s beyond. Nevertheless, this show tells us a great deal about where the long arc of painting is at the moment, both through commission and omission. 

Event Listings

December 3-December 9

Milwaukee Art Museum

Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio

Saturday, December 3, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Screening: “Everyone I Know Is Sick”

Saturday, December 3, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

The Bindery

Paperjam Holiday Market

Sunday, December 3, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Jewish Museum Milwaukee

Community Free Day for Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse

Sunday, December 3, 12–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights

Sunday, December 3, 2–3 p.m.

UWM Student Union

Holiday Artist Fair

Monday, December 4-Wednesday, December 6, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Marian Art Gallery, Mount Mary University

Opening Reception: “Fall 2023 Student Art Show”

Wednesday, December 6, 12–1 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Gallery Talk: “50 Paintings”

Thursday, December 7, 12–1 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Teen Night

Thursday, December 7, 5–7 p.m.

Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts

Makers Mingle presented by MKElifestyle: Felted Present Toppers & Magnets

Thursday, December 7, 6–9 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Play Date with Art: Nifty Paintings

Friday, December 8, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.

Latino Arts

Opening Reception: “Celebrating Our Shared Roots”

Friday, December 8, 5 p.m.

Real Tinsel

Opening Reception: “Sudden Spaces” Chloë Simmons and Tom Lang

Friday, December 8, 6–8 p.m.

Mitchell Street Arts (MiSA)

Opening Reception: “Stitch and Solder”

Friday, December 8, 6–9 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio

Saturday, December 9, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Saint Kate, the Arts Hotel

Saint Kate Holiday Marketplace

Saturday, December 9, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights

Friends of the Shepherd

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Saturday, December 9, 2–3 p.m.

Saint Kate, the Arts Hotel

AIR Time Art & Studio Tour

Saturday, December 9, 5:30 p.m.

VAR Gallery, 5th Street

Opening Reception: John Alleyne: Super Natural

Saturday, December 9, 6–9 p.m.