Photo courtesy of Landmarks Gallery
The impressive résumé of Milwaukee artist Michelle Grabner includes a professorship at the Art Institute of Chicago and co-curations of the Whitney Museum Biennial (2014) and the Portland Biennial (2016). Her work is in the collections of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Berlin’s Daimler Chrysler Collection and Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Some of her recent paintings are on view in the St. Kate—The Arts Hotel gallery in a joint exhibition with Lois Bielefeld, “Playing House” (through March 16). At St. Kate, the materiality of Grabner’s large-scale works—with their subtle color variations and deliberate suggestions of handicraft—represent the artist’s mature style. Grabner is also represented in a group show at Gallery 224 (through March 21). It’s also interesting to see where her roots began, or the paths not eventually taken, in an exhibit of paintings and woodcuts that date from the late 1980s as she completed her degrees from UW-Milwaukee. “Michelle Grabner: Early Years, Lost Treasures,” is on display at Landmarks Gallery through March 31.
In the 20 pieces gathered for “Early Years,” Grabner was already committed to abstraction. Some paintings can even be called Abstract Expressionist, because their texture, color, shape and rhythm of application convey the entirety of their meaning. They don’t resemble the furious splatter of Jackson Pollock or the serene horizontals of Mark Rothko, but—if those artists represent poles on the spectrum—they fall somewhere in between. A few of the watercolors on paper are in dark hues, but most are in bright, friendly colors. Not unlike her recent mature work but in a different mode, they are inviting to the senses.
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Accompanying the paintings are a few woodcuts from the same period. They are abstractions that play with the form of still lifes whose shapes, shadows and colors provide significance, not their texture or context.
“Michelle Grabner: Early Years, Lost Treasures” is a glimpse of an important artist in the process of finding herself. Landmarks Gallery is located at 231 N. 76th St.
Opening This Week
“Art in So Many Words” Feb. 28-March 28 Inspiration Studios 1500 S. 73rd St., West Allis
The Rogues Artists Group and local poets have joined together in a creative project to interpret each other’s work. Their final expressions are exhibited at Inspiration Studios in “Art in So Many Words.” The exhibit showcases the work of 15 Rogues artists, each of whom was paired with a poet hailing from southeastern Wisconsin and beyond. To create this thought-provoking show, each artist received a poem they interpreted in the medium of their choice. Media represented includes acrylics, oils, watercolors, mixed media, collage, cut paper and an artist’s book. Each poet received a piece of art from their corresponding artist, and they interpreted it in their own particular medium, the spoken word. Many of the poets will be in attendance on opening night (6-9 p.m.) reading their poems to the audience. For more information, call 414-587-3474 or visit inspirationstudiosgallery.com.
