Tag: Nirmal Raja

Coming soon

This evening the artist will be interviewed by another curator. More words to weave through and around the work and her practice, more meaning to dig into, more to uncover and understand.

But will they talk of beauty? That’s what drew me to her work in the first place, the drop-dead gorgeousness of it all. Surface and material, color and texture, the space it demands. That’s what I need to convey: how artwork can carry complex and intellectual meaning but also be beautiful.  

This all started at the Alice Wilds exhibition, “Wrapping Air In Cloth and Other Seemingly Impossible Tasks: Nirmal Raja,” on display in Milwaukee during November and December of 2019.

I was lucky to attend a gallery talk by the artist and was struck by how connected I felt to the work. Raja’s use of visual language is powerful. She is able to take feelings of dislocation and loss, global experiences of violence and vulnerability, or personal practice, and transform them into visual experiences that are not only comprehensible, but also incredibly beautiful.

It is a difficult balance to achieve, I think, this equilibrium between content and aesthetics. I’m not even sure these are the best terms to describe what I’m trying to say. The meaning that many artists strive to convey can be masked or obscured by the visual experience. For works to convey meaning, it can be helpful to invite the viewer in somehow, to make them feel–if not welcome, then at least interested. Beautiful work may not always be complex, but it can whack you over the head. That’s what I am interested in. Raja’s work smacks hard. Double-whammy.

So that’s what I’m working on now. Trying to find the words, finalize the checklist, and develop the gallery layout for a group of works that will convey some powerful meaning in glorious ways. The exhibition opens in Madison at the end of August 2024.

At the end of 2019

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?

Installation view, “Tom Uttecht: Into the Woods,” at MOWA.

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!