Much has been said about the gingham motif in Michelle Grabner’s art: the orderly verticals and horizontals that make a grid synonymous with demure dresses, old-fashioned tablecloths and country-style curtains. From outside the plate-glass windows of Green Gallery, her large paintings may appear to hold true to this form, but come closer to see how their irregularities and gestural dynamics create tension within these neat arrangements.
There are eight paintings, a few monumental and others more modest in size. Two bronze sculptures complement the exhibition, and all of the works in the show are recent pieces made during 2015. Grabner, who is an internationally recognized contemporary artist, completed these pieces in Milwaukee where she has recently relocated.
Grabner’s underlying color sinks down onto the heavy weave of the canvas like a stain. The squares laid on top vary in the application of paint: sometimes thin, sometimes thick, sometimes like cascading waves or rising like peaks on a meringue. She plays off complementary hues, such as electric blue that provides support for citrusy shades of orange. Standing close to the painted surfaces, your eyes feel as though they are vibrating and afterimages of different shapes or colors may appear. It is rather psychedelic in a subversive way, as the supposed stillness of the pattern breaks apart with the singularity of each brushstroke.
The two bronze sculptures in the exhibition mimic textiles, as they appear like cloths of crochet or macramé that have been dipped in bronze. Their folds and directional force make it easy to forget they are not held aloft by anything except the unbending nature of metal. They follow the allusions of the gridded patterns of her paintings, as well as the tacit references to crafts and the homespun traditions woven in these forms.
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Grabner’s art in this exhibition, as also occurs throughout much of her work, uses seemingly simple methods of organization that are explored and expanded into intricate systems. These are quotidian things, part of ordinary experiences, but like many of the received structures of life, subtle disruptions are what become most invigorating.
“Exhibition of Paintings and Bronze Casts by Michelle Grabner of Wisconsin” continues through Jan. 2 at Green Gallery, 1500 N. Farwell Ave.
