The New Art Examiner has just posted a new issue that looks back at 2019. Included is my review of Nirmal Raja’s thoughtful exhibition that closed in December at The Alice Wilds here in Milwaukee. It was a beautiful installation of work that explores place, boundaries and connections, process, and the impossibility of control, among other things. Although I am always sad to see a good exhibition close, I am excited to see what comes next for this inquisitive and engaging artist.
The temporary nature of gallery display, coupled with publication deadlines, requires writing about exhibitions that have already closed. This is so frustrating! To counter the seemingly nonsensical act of post-exhibit reviews, here’s a pitch for a couple of impressive shows to see quick before they disappear:
Tom Uttech: Into the Woods, is at the Museum of Wisconsin Art until January 12, 2020. This is a magical exhibition of work by an artist with a very specific vision. I was familiar with his work from a major acquisition at a former museum. This exhibition put that substantial painting into marvelous context. Accompanied by the artist’s black and white photography, the show includes impressive works from throughout his long career. The variety and consistency of the work are instructive and mesmerizing. This was a difficult exhibition to leave, as there is so much to look at and revel in. Shane McAdams has a wonderful review, but try to get to West Bend and see it, as when will you be able to see all of these canvases and photos together again?
A very different experience is at the Art Institute of Chicago with the exhibition In a Cloud, in a Wall, in a Chair: Six Modernists in Mexico at Midcentury. Also on view until January 12, 2020, this show is fascinating, well-researched, and gorgeously installed. Exploring the collaborative and individual efforts of six artists and designers working in Mexico in the mid-twentieth century, the installation highlights weavings, furniture, sculpture, prints, and photography by Clara Porset, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Anni Albers, Ruth Asawa, Cynthia Sargent, and Sheila Hicks. This is a great opportunity to see some gorgeous work that is rarely shown.
It also brought to mind the wonderful surrealist exhibition, organized a few years ago by the LACMA and the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico, In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States. Makes me want to learn more about post-revolutionary Mexico.
What will 2020 bring? Maybe some reading and research about Mexico! But I’m also looking forward to seeing the 2020 Wisconsin Artists Biennial, January 25–March 29, 2020 at MOWA, and finally making it to the Wisconsin Triennial: 2019 before it closes February 16 at MMoCA. So many exhibitions, so little time!
Ann Sinfield: Projects 