Color Vibrations @ Tory Folliard Gallery

Tory Folliard Gallery welcomes the New Year by inviting several debut artists to Milwaukee. In the exhibition opening January 7 titled “Color Vibrations” three new artists display their paintings, sculpture and a site-specific piece using reflected light. While the gallery hosts the formal artist's reception on Gallery Night, January 21, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., anyone may take a sneak peek the entire week before Friday's opening to view this brilliant art that could warm these sometimes bitter cold winter days. Nicole Reid enthusiastically discussed several details about the artists included in the thematic show.

In his first exhibition at the gallery, retired art instructor Albert Benedict fashions large and small ceramic pieces for a garden or tablescape. These sculptural objects bridge the functional and non-functional, where several larger sculptures resemble birdbaths layered with a kaleidoscope of color. Ranging in size from 18 inches to four feet high, Benedict's ceramic creations will enliven any indoor or outdoor environment.

Another exhibition debut at Folliard's presents Derrick Buisch, a University of Wisconsin-Madison art professor for over 15 years. Approximately 17 of his paintings, only 12 by 12 inches square, placed in a great grid will be titled Errata Index. Buisch deconstructs the signage and markings that reference international travel symbols and then portrays them with acrylic, enamel and oil on canvas.  Chartreuse, electric blue and shocking pink hues grace his artworks that also incorporates carbon transfer images and grab the viewer's attention.

Jonathan Kramka represents the youngest artist in the exhibition, still a student completing his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kramka will design the first light installation for the gallery by pouring resin on the floor and then bathing it in light, which then reflects a shimmering, moving sculptural image on the walls. The smaller East Gallery may be chosen for showcasing this unique artwork imagined especially for Folliard.

Harold Gregor established a long-standing relationship with Folliard Gallery together with his renowned reputation as “The Godfather of Heartland Paintings.” Currently a painter working well into his eighth decade, Gregor embraced five different painting styles throughout his career. In fact, Reid mentioned President Obama's oval office features two Gregor paintings in different styles. 

Gregor began in photorealism by painting rural Illinois landscapes delineated in a long, narrow panoramic format, often over 90 inches long. Later he worked from an aerial perspective, and then moved into a genre Gregor describes as colorscapes and vibrascapes. This later technique displays a looser structure and even more intense colors that reference a less literal translation of Midwest geography with more spontaneous images of the Illinois terrain he originally put on canvas.

The Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois will exhibit two four by five feet oil paintings along with three smaller watercolors, each one brushstroked in his trademark saturated hues. Gregor's prestigious resume includes three previous museum retrospectives that follow him to this initial 2011 exhibition.

Folliard favorite and Wisconsin painter Mark Ottens meticulously tapes his masonite and wood panels to produce tiny, layered abstract images. A gel medium overlaid on the painted surfaces enhances these color fragments represented by geometric shapes and forms, covering the paintings in a high gloss finish. The entire “Color Vibration” collection showcases an affordable selection of smaller artwork that could fit perfectly into numerous spaces and rooms. By highlighting approximately 30 pieces that embrace the complete prismatic spectrum, Tory Folliard's exhibition offers a joyful respite from the bleak midwinter 'blues.'

               (The "Color Vibrations" exhibition opens January 7 and continues through February 5)