BREAKING Tony Evers beats Scott Walker to win Wisconsin governor's race in nail-biter https://madison.com/wsj/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/mmoca-s-own-frida-kahlo-painting-put-on- display/article_06e4e5bb-7c2e-594f-9fd0-7b567498b206.html

TOP STORY MMOCA's own Frida Kahlo painting put on display

SAMARA KALK DERBY [email protected] Sep 11, 2018

The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art has its Frida Kahlo still life "Pitahayas" on display until Feb. 3. State Journal archives The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art acquired Frida Kahlo's still life "Pitahayas" in 1969, but like the more than 5,500 works in the museum's permanent collection, the painting is seldom displayed.

Visitors to the museum can see "Pitahayas," painted by one of the 20th century's most important artists, now until Feb. 3. It's being shown along with digital material that details the imagery in the painting and how the work came to the museum.

MMOCA is part of "Faces of Frida," a digital Google Arts & Culture project dedicated to commemorating Kahlo's life and legacy.

The project provides access to an online collection of more than 800 items, including images of artwork, photographs and letters. MMOCA is one of more than 30 cultural institutions, from seven countries, contributing to "Faces of Frida."

"Pitahayas," a painting of five bright pink pitahaya fruit, has gotten new visibility through the Google project, so the museum had been getting lots of questions about it, said museum curator Mel Becker Solomon. People had also been stopping in, asking to see it.

Becker Solomon researched the painting extensively and contributed two essays to "Faces of Frida." Erika Monroe-Kane, the museum's communications director, credited Becker Solomon for uncovering the history and significance of the piece.

For instance, Becker Solomon details how when the painting was exhibited in 1939, the faint skeleton hovering above the fruit had a smile. Then, after Kahlo's husband, the artist Diego Rivera, asked for a divorce, Kahlo changed the smile to a frown.

Monroe-Kane called "Pitahayas" a community treasure. It was one of more than 1,100 works of modern art donated by local collectors Rudolph and Louise Langer.

Because MMOCA isn't a museum with a permanent collection that's on display all the time, its collection rotates. "Pitahayas" is being exhibited in MMOCA's Imprint Gallery on the second floor next to the main gallery. It's a black box space dedicated to presenting multimedia artwork, including video.

"We wanted to make the painting really stand out and be in this sort of jewel box nestled in this shrine-like space," Becker Solomon said.

An iPad in the room accesses the Google Arts & Culture project so visitors can research and zoom in on the painting.

"Pitahayas" was last exhibited at MMoCA from September 2015 to January 2016 in "Taking Their Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context," which included newer acquisitions along with more familiar favorites in celebration of the museum's 10-year anniversary. The exhibit featured works exclusively from the museum’s permanent collection.

From Feb. 1 through June 3 of this year, the painting was part of a large exhibition in Milan called "Frida Kahlo Beyond the Myth." The exhibit was a huge retrospective of Kahlo's work with a large catalog produced by its curator.

In Milan, "Pitahayas" was featured in a room with some of the Mexican artist's other iconic works that reflected her struggles with pain, including the painting where she's lying in Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit after having a miscarriage, Becker Solomon said.

Soon the painting will be headed to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to be part of an exhibition at the end of February.

"It's requested often and it's certainly the centerpiece of our collection," Becker Solomon said.

In one of Becker Solomon's essays she quotes Kahlo describing the sweet-sour fruit in her painting this way: “It is fuchsia on the outside and hides the subtlety of a whitish- gray pulp flecked with little black spots that are its seeds inside. This is a wonder! Fruits are like flowers: they speak to us in provocative language and teach us things that are hidden.” Becker Solomon, who said she's seen pitahaya fruit sold at local grocery stores, writes that Kahlo often depicted vegetation as a symbol of fertility and regeneration.

"She drew directly from medical textbooks such that they often resembled scientific diagrams. Here the pitahaya is sliced directly in two and mirrors a dissected female reproductive cell, an ovum," she wrote. "The depicted cell is undergoing cellular division or meiosis. Errors in this reproductive process are the leading cause of miscarriages."

In Becker Solomon's analysis, "Pitahayas," is not just a still life, but an intimate self- portrait representing Kahlo's reproductive system and the miscarriages she suffered.

"It's very wrapped up in her pain and her trauma and her struggle and how she overcame it and was still this great artist," Becker Solomon said.

The Google Arts & Culture project worked with Kahlo's estate in Mexico to produce "Faces of Frida," which includes essays from curators all over the world speaking about Kahlo in new ways.

Kahlo, who died in 1954 at age 47, didn't dress like other Mexican women of the time, Becker Solomon said. "That was a form of protest for her."

"Faces of Frida" is an attempt to break the myth of Kahlo and really focus on her as an artist, "not just this woman who had a unibrow and dressed in the style of colonial Mexican dress," she said.

Info box What: "Pitahayas" by Frida Kahlo on display

When: Now through Feb. 3.

Museum is open Tuesdays through Thursdays noon to 5 p.m., Fridays noon to 8 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays.

Where: Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, second oor Imprint Gallery, 227 State St.

Cost: Free

Online: artsandculture.google.com/project/frida-kahlo Search... Search

While the Madion Mueum of Contemporar Art i alwa packed with flah, ee- catching artwork, a new multimedia intallation in the mueum’ lo i deigned epeciall to enhance the dramatic pace.

onja Thomen’ in the pace of elewhere adorn the mueum’ entrance and central tairwa with a erie of highl reflective, immerive geometric form and pattern.

The work, which wa intalled in Jul, i ite-pecific, meaning it wa created for MMoCA alone. efore creating it, Thomen, a Milwaukee-aed photographer and intallation artit who teache at the Art Intitute of Chicago, pent nearl ix month making ketche from her viit to the mueum. he paid cloe attention to the uilding’ aethetic quirk, drafting up wa to et accentuate it ingular architecture. “A I pent more time there, there were o man detail I tarted to clue into,” a Thomen. “There’ a nerg there I thought wa o intereting.”

According to Leah Kol, MMoCA’ curator of exhiition, Thomen’ work echoe the viion of the mueum’ architect, Cear Pelli, whoe deign “reflect a poetic repone to the unique circumtance of purpoe and place.”

In Thomen’ work, reflective polcaronate triangle upended from the uilding’ ceiling and emedded in it architecture himmer in the well-lit pace, projecting urt of light onto the u interection outide. “I wanted to make people look up from tate treet, and pull them into the uilding. That econd-floor landing now i aicall a illoard,” a the artit.

At firt glance, in the pace of elewhere appear relativel imple. ut the triangular form are glo and intenel luminou, o much that the appear almot fluid, with the liquid heen of a gaoline pill. Change in unlight or od poitioning caue ome to vanih and appear pontaneoul. everal hape have even een cached in overlooked ection of the entrancewa and taircae, and are onl viewale from pecific angle, or while climing the tair.

Alo part of the intallation are everal length of Aluminet, a tpe of hade cloth made from high denit polethlene — commonl ued farmer and greenhoue grower. “During ofter light it feel like a metallic urface, and with more light it eem like a mit, and i almot impoile to photograph,” a Thomen.

Thi trange, liminal qualit i central to the intallation, where material flicker in and out of view, and MMoCA itelf ecome a hifting, dnamic pace, egging to e explored. The mueum uilding i ditinct and eautiful all on it own, and Thomen make ure viewer leave with a freh appreciation.

“I’m hper-intereted in the role of dicover,” a Thomen. “That’ where curioit happen, that’ where quetion emerge. I want people to peak aout the role of wonder in pace.” Type subject here...

DC 14, 2017

DC 21, 2017

JUN 7, 2018 Search... Search

ver time ou ee a clock, and with each glance at our phone, it’ there: Time. It’ meaured with atomic preciion at the Roal Oervator in Greenwich, London, where Greenwich Mean Time et the tandard for timekeeping all over the world.

Zulu Time, an exhiit at Madion Mueum of Contemporar Art acending artit Kamui Olujimi, hope to upend our aumption aout power, uing time a a metaphor.

“Zulu Time i an implementation of a power dnamic. It’ like: I tell ou what time it i, in a ver aic wa, and ou aide it,” a Olujimi. “The how reall i aout who get to a what time it i, and enforce that.”

Created for dipla at MMoCA and running in the tate treet Galler through Augut 13, Zulu Time addree long-tanding iue of racial and ocial inequalit red from inidiou, oft-overlooked tem of power.

It’ no coincidence either that the exhiition come at uch a turulent time in U.. politic. During a talk at the exhiition’ June 2 opening Olujimi, who live in rookln, New York, aid he crapped earlier iteration of the how in order to dipla more topical work: “verthing changed after the [preidential] election.”

Zulu Time howcae everal erie of Olujimi’ multi-media piece, woven together idea of race, power, politic and human haitation. Interpered throughout the firt-floor galler are culpture from the “Killing Time” and “InDeciive Moment” erie.

“Killing Time” conit i a et of five pare et evocative wall-hanging culpture compoed of handcuff trung together with reflective chain and cotume jewelr, with jewel and feather adorning intrument of imprionment.

“Thinking aout thee handcuff, I’m not tring to move awa from what the molize,” a Olujimi, “... the retraint of people, the tealing of lack odie, ma incarceration — ut it’ never a note, it’ a chord.”

Along the galler’ treet-facing wall tand “T-Minu Ø,” a diplomatic row of 13 cotton flag, imprinted not with national inignia, ut intead with rightl colored image of exploion from a failed pace-huttle launch. Depite the grim uject, the image ecome enchanting: Their luh texture and erpentine form, et tarkl againt lue kie, tranform carnage into color and form, chao into pure aethetic.

oth erie dipla the complexit of Olujimi’ work, which delicatel comine overt mol of oppreion and detruction with unapologetic eaut.

Another piece central to the exhiition i “Ville Radieue, haite-a-machine (The Radiant Cit, the living machine),” a large-cale print depicting the exploive mid-’70 demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe houing project in t. Loui, le than two decade after the were uilt.

According to the artit’ tatement, man people lamed Pruitt-Igoe’ demie on the tenant themelve, olidifing a ghatl loop of victim-laming and undercoring the countr’ tark racial and cla divide.

Tucked awa on the floor of the galler’ front corner i “Fathom.” Compoed of five chandelier (molic of ritih colonial rule) reting on wooden pallet upported ruer inner tue, the work conjure the form of odie on a raft, or refugee on an immigrant veel. It’ a cene that, true to Olujimi’ viion, i complicated — trouled et hopeful.

“We live in a place of multiplicit and hridit, and that’ what fucked up and complicated aout jut living,” he a. “ut a a maker ou tr and have ome eaut. I live in eaut. I’m from eaut. The challenge that we face are not happening in a vacuum.”

Type subject here...

MAY 10, 2018 BREAKING What's happening right now in Southern Wisconsin elections? Here's everything you need t https://madison.com/wsj/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/artist-at-mmoca-links-time-and-power- dynamics/article_534fbec6-868c-59e4-b2d1-7b2c4c4dd002.html Artist at MMOCA links time and power dynamics

GAYLE WORLAND [email protected] May 30, 2017

Artist Kambui Olujimi explains the symbolism behind his series of ags -- printed with photos of failed U.S. BUY NO rocket launches and titled "T-Minus 0" -- during the installation of his exhibition "Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time" at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Olujimi will talk about his work during the show's opening reception on Friday. M.P. KING, STATE JOURNAL When Leah Kolb, associate curator for the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, saw an exhibition of work and heard a talk by artist Kambui Olujimi in Milwaukee, she became determined to bring his work to MMOCA.

The Brooklyn-born artist, she felt, had a lot to say to Madison.

Olujimi has indeed made a statement in the new exhibition “Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time,” now on view at MMOCA through Aug. 13.

An opening reception, featuring a talk by the artist, is scheduled from 6-9 p.m. Friday.

Olujimi created all new work for “Zulu Time,” in media ranging from cloth to metal to virtual reality. The show’s name comes from the term used to designate time at the Earth’s prime meridian — longitude 0 degrees, or “Zulu” time — from which all time zones around the globe are calculated.

That invisible, arbitrary line (also known as Greenwich Mean Time) was assigned by the British, who at the time commanded the world’s most powerful maritime fleet and needed to standardize global timekeeping for that reason.

But for Olujimi, “Zulu” time is symbolic of a subjective, yet profound, standard imposed on humanity from a distinctly European point of view.

“Over all arches this idea of time,” he explained while helping to install “Zulu Time” last month in MMOCA’s State Street Gallery.

“The hour glasses speak to geological time,” said Olujimi, noting his glass sculptures shaped like those ancient timekeeping devices. “Zulu time speaks to a time of colonialism, a time of empire.”

“It’s all this kind of overlapping time. And what I’m hoping with the show — it’s about a disruption of the projection of time,” he said. “Because that projection of time is a projection of a set of power dynamics.” Olujimi created a series of wall pieces for the show titled “Killing Time” from handcuffs and jeweled bling — collapsing eras of slavery, veiled discrimination and present-day mass incarceration.

In one “Killing Time” piece, titled “Litmus Test,” “I was thinking about how notions of whiteness become a baseline for humanity,” he explained.

“Then it becomes a litmus test against which other people are measured. For instance, in Trayvon Martin’s case, there’s this reiteration of ‘But he was wearing a hoodie,’” said Olujimi, referring to the 2012 fatal shooting of the Florida teenager by a neighborhood watch captain.

“But it’s a fashion that is just contemporary fashion,” Olujimi said. “So what is it when a young black boy wears a hoodie versus a young white girl? Or someone else?”

It’s these types of questions that are raised by Olujimi’s work in understated ways, Kolb said.

“He’s really interested in paying attention to these invisible hierarchies, and these invisible systems that perpetuate inequalities,” she explained during the show’s installation.

“He does it metaphorically, so the work itself doesn’t explicitly say anything necessarily, but he’s making these visual connections, these visual references.”

In another piece, Olujimi ceremoniously hangs a line of cloth flags printed with photos of failed American rocket launches — in his eyes, repeated acts of nationalism, ego, squandered technological resources and moments of failure witnessed by the world, now frozen in time.

The work is titled “T-Minus 0,” a phrase that means “time is out.”

“If you say it, the ship has already gone,” the artist said. “These are all failed rocket and shuttle launches. So it’s thinking of space or an aspiration of space, thinking about the challenges of a nation and how that operates. “In a very basic way, nation is an imagined community,” he said. “I think the space race was a very great metaphor for this tenuous position. There was no true need for it. It was all symbolic.”

The flags in “T-Minus 0” “have a double meaning in the moment we are in now, with the Trump Administration (and the question) ‘Will this be the last American president?,’” Olujimi said. “When you have a president, the head of the executive branch, openly saying that he’s interested in dismantling the government … again, it comes out of the discrepancy between the America we imagine and the America we live in. At some point we have to face that delusion.”

Olujimi, who holds an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts in New York, is an eloquent spokesman about his work. But he doesn’t plan his artist talks, such as the one he’ll do at MMOCA on Friday, in advance.

“When I give a talk, I just think about things I want to get into,” he said. “I just take my slides and I start.

“That way you keep discovering things — and also people ask different questions. I discover different things about the work when I answer those questions.”

If you go What: "Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time"

Where: Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St.

When: Exhibition runs through Aug. 13. Regular gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; noon to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission: Museum admission is free.

Opening reception: Held 6-9 p.m. Friday, with an artist talk from 6:30-7 p.m. $10; MMOCA members free.

Website: mmoca.org

Gayle Worland | Wisconsin State Journal BREAKING Election 2018: A recap of who won major races in Wisconsin https://madison.com/wsj/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/art-tells-a-personal-story-in-latest-wisconsin- triennial/article_18eb7169-719c-576b-a862-4bdd8b65e548.html Art tells a personal story in latest Wisconsin Triennial

GAYLE WORLAND [email protected], 608-252-6188 Sep 19, 2016

UW-Madison assistant professor Helen Lee, shown here in the neon lab of the university's Glass Lab, is one BUY NO of the artists selected for the 2016 Wisconsin Triennial at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Like many other artists in the prestigious show, Lee created a work that in part, tells a personal story. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Every three years, Madison gets to witness the artwork of some of Wisconsin’s most exuberantly creative minds. The 2016 edition of the “Wisconsin Triennial,” opening next weekend at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, will feature the work of 40 artists and artist-teams – handpicked to show some of the innovation happening in art studios throughout the state.

One of those is glass artist Helen Lee, for whom the timing of the 2016 Triennial has a lot of significance. It marks three years since Lee moved to the Midwest, after a lifetime on the East and West Coasts, and settled here to become head of the esteemed glass program at UW-Madison.

The 2013 Triennial “was freshly mounted” on the walls of MMOCA when Lee arrived in town, she said. So having a work in the 2016 Triennial “seems like a very formal marking of my time here.”

Lee, 38, is among 14 artists and collaborative teams from Madison in this year’s Triennial, which will take over most of MMOCA’s vast building adjacent to the Overture Center at 227 State St.

Those whose work has been seen in past Triennials include UW-Madison faculty Stephen Hilyard (video installation), John Hitchcock (printmaking), T.L. Solien (painting), Laurie Beth Clark and Michael Peterson (of the performance art duo Spatula&Barcode) and Derrick Buisch (painting; his work was also seen in the 2013, 2010 and 2007 Triennials).

Madison newcomers to the exhibition include Lee (glass), Emily Arthur (printmaking), Victor Castro aka TetraPAKMAN Man (social sculpture), Helen Hawley (multimedia installation), Romano Johnson (painting), Meg Mitchell (sound installation), Christopher Rowley (painting), SAYLER + SCHAAG (performance) and Gregory Vershbow (photography).

The monumental, cut-paper artwork titled “Brave New World” by UW-Whitewater art faculty member Xiaohong Zhang, of Fort Atkinson, also will be featured, along with new works from artists based in Milwaukee, La Crosse, Sussex, Forestville, Sheboygan, Shorewood, Appleton, Green Bay and elsewhere across the state. Those artists were selected from among more than 600 who applied for this year’s show. As part of the selection process, MMOCA curators visited artists’ studios to talk with them and to see their current work. All the pieces in the Triennial have been created in the past three years.

Two notable themes that emerged in 2016 are the state of the environment and storytelling, marked by an exploration of personal identity, said MMOCA senior curator Richard Axsom.

“All of modern and contemporary art is first-person singular. So it’s personal from the get-go,” Axsom said. “What distinguishes this moment in storytelling is the aspect of narrative – sometimes not linear, sometimes not chronological, but nonetheless a story being told.”

“What we saw emerging (in the studio visits) was – here is another artist who is concerned personally with the environment, or with cultural identity, ethnic identity, political identity,” he said. “It seemed to step forward.”

Lee’s work in the show, for example, is a glass sculpture more than 5 feet tall, pulsating in pink neon. Titled “OMG,” the work depicts three Mandarin Chinese characters that vertically spell out “My Day!,” or the equivalent of the ubiquitous American expression “OMG!”

Lee, who grew up learning Chinese from elder relatives and today speaks the language “like a 5-year-old,” she quipped, became fascinated with the “My Day” expression on a trip to Taiwan. It both surprised and amused her that an expression seemingly “so American” was a part of everyday Chinese vernacular as well.

Lee, 38, whose background is in blown glass, didn’t really start experimenting with neon until she came to teach at UW-Madison – another reason that having “OMG” in the Triennial is meaningful for her, she said.

Lee “found it interesting (to translate) it into this language that she associates with her ancestry, and the crossover and confused meanings that go along with that,” said MMOCA associate curator Leah Kolb, who along with Axsom, education curator Sheri Castelnuovo and MMOCA director Stephen Fleischman participated in the studio visits. “She sees it very much as part of her identity, which she’s now passing along to her daughter. It’s an interesting way of using neon to address that very kind of personal relationship with language and heritage.”

Kolb and Axsom point out the range of ways that Wisconsin artists in the Triennial tell their own visual stories about identity. There’s an almost Rembrandt-like self-portrait by Daniel O’Neal of Stevens Point, painted in oil in his art studio with a magical — and yet almost photographic — realism. And there’s the video “Pacel Galvu” by Ted Brusubardis of Milwaukee, inspired by the Latvian folk songs of his ancestors.

Milwaukee video artist Portia Cobb created a piece for her series “Performing Grace” showing her 94-year-old mother shelling cowpeas, a ritual from her youth in the South, as the two women tenderly explore the meaning of grace. Sky Hopinka of Milwaukee also used video and recollections from his father to explore his identity as a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation in his work “Jaaji Approx.”

About a third of the artists in the 2016 Wisconsin Triennial identify as Native American, African American, Asian American or Latino, according to the museum. Diversity – in medium, artistic style, geography and artists’ backgrounds – was a stated goal of this year’s show.

A MMOCA Nights reception held from 6-9 p.m. Friday will kick off the 2016 Wisconsin Triennial. The show opens Saturday and runs through Jan. 8. Admission to the museum is free.

If you go What: 2016 Wisconsin Triennial

Where: Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St.

When: Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Friday. The exhibition runs Saturday through January 8. Museum hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; noon to 8 p.m. Friday; and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. Closed major holidays.

Guided tours: Free, 30-minute tours by MMOCA docents will be held at 1 p.m. on Oct. 8, Nov. 12 and Dec. 10. Meet in the MMOCA lobby.

Admission: Museum admission is free. Friday’s opening reception is $10; free for MMOCA members. BREAKING Election 2018: A recap of who won major races in Wisconsin https://madison.com/wsj/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/art-fair-on-the-square-celebrates-years-of- memories/article_59d80b5c-e3ae-5f63-92d1-dc2fce745765.html Art Fair on the Square celebrates 60 years of memories

CHRIS AADLAND [email protected] Jul 8, 2018

The annual Art Fair on the Square will be Saturday and July 15 this year. This year's event will be the fair's 60th. Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

For artist Amy Arnold, Madison’s annual Art Fair on the Square could elicit unpleasant childhood memories of sweaty days walking around Capitol Square looking at art.

It could also cue recollections of it helping her develop as an artist. Or it could remind her of how she met her husband.

Over the years at the nationally known art fair — which starts Saturday — art collections have been added to in addition to forming friendships, relationships and memories.

This will be the fair’s 60th year. Attendees will be able to observe thousands of people or have the chance to buy a wide variety of art.

The fair started as a “sleepy sidewalk sale in 1958” on the West Side, said Madison Museum of Contemporary Art director Stephen Fleischman, and has evolved into one of the largest and most recognized art fairs in the nation, luring well-known artists from across the country to vie for a chance to sell their art.

“Nobody would have predicted that it would be going like it is now,” he said. “At this point, it’s become a backdrop for lots of personal stories.”

The fair is organized by MMOCA and is its biggest fundraiser, raising about $350,000 to $400,000 every year, which is about 20 percent of its yearly budget.

Money from the juried art fair that gets four or five times as many applicants as it can take helps pay for the museum’s other programming throughout the year and keep admission to its State Street location free.

It’s even helped spawn Art Fair Off the Square — which is in its 39th year and isn’t organized by MMOCA — for only Wisconsin artists.

That art fair can be found nearby on the 200 block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. and on the Olin Terrace walkway leading up to the Monona Terrace.

Attendees of the larger fair can interact with the nearly 500 artists at tents lining both sides of the street, buy art or enjoy its food, music and entertainment options.

The fair brings nearly 200,000 visitors to Madison’s Downtown, according to the museum. Over the years, the sense of community, atmosphere, selection of art and people- watching has kept some volunteers and attendees, like Kathie Nichols, coming back for decades.

Her first art fair was in 1982 when she was a new Madisonian. Since then, she said she’s missed one fair and has spent the years both volunteering and browsing the event as an attendee after her shifts.

“I do try to schedule my vacations around the art fair,” she said. “I love to see what people are doing and thinking and creating. ... Just to be surrounded by that makes me giddy.”

Attending the fair for the first time helped her realize she liked being around artistic minds and appreciated the jobs artists do.

“It’s a hard life … so I just admire them,” she said. “it’s people who are so devoted to their creative artistry.”

For others, like Arnold, of Viroqua, the fair has helped her develop as an artist by “sucking up the artist vibe,” meet other artists and sell her own work. She even met her husband, also an artist, in 2003 at the fair, where he was selling handmade furniture.

The two now collaborate and have sold their wood sculptures at the fair.

She said she first attended the fair as a child and didn’t particularly enjoy it.

“I remember it being really hot and unpleasant as a child and not liking it at all,” Arnold said.

Now, years after first attending in the early 90s, she views it differently.

As a young artist, seeing the art and interacting with the artists helped her see a possible future as an artist, she said. “It helped me to form a vision in my mind about a possible way,” Arnold said. “Connecting to the people I did through Art Fair on the Square … was also invaluable as far as finding my way and community.”

While Fleischman said the fair has become larger and more complex over the years, the “basic concept is still the same”: a place for artists to sell their wares and a place for an interested public to come and engage with art.

Fleischman’s first experience with Art Fair on the Square was in the early 1980s. He organized the event in 1982 and 1983.

He said Madison’s culture and community has allowed the fair to flourish — and that natural human curiosity and an urge to create things and be creative should allow it to continue to be a top art fair for years to come.

“There’s no reason the event couldn’t be going strong in 60 years,” he said.

Map data ©2018 Google

If you go What: 2018 Art Fair on the Square

Where: Capitol Square

When: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday

Cost: Free

More information: www.mmoca.org/events/special-events/art-fair-square/art-fair-square

What: 2018 Art Fair Off the Square Where: 200 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and the Olin Terrace Walkway leading to the Monona Terrace

When: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 15

Cost: Free

More information: http://www.artcraftwis.org/

MORE INFORMATION

One man's trash becomes another man's treasure at Art Fair on the Square

Art Fair on the Square offers opportunity for emerging artists

Art Fair on the Square a competitive spot for artists

Chris Aadland | Wisconsin State Journal Chris Aadland is a reporting intern for the Wisconsin State Journal. Search... Search

"I've attended a lot of avant garde creening in Madion in the lat ix ear, and it' rare that over fort people how up to an one creening," a Tom Yohikami, a graduate tudent at UW-Madion who work a a programmer for UW Cinematheque and the Wiconin Film Fetival. "When Cinemathque ran a erie five ear ago titled "Uneen Cinema," which highlighted avant-garde work from practicall the eginning of film, there were night I would e onl one of fifteen people in attendance."

Thi certainl in't the cae with Rooftop Cinema, though, when it premiered lat ummer. "There were ome night where we had well over 100 people," a Yohikami, who program the four week erie of hort avant garde and experimental film for the Madion Mueum of Contemporar Art. "When we originall put thi together in the pring of 2006, we had no idea a to how man people would how up," he continue.

Thee movie under the tar will e making a return engagement to the rooftop garden at MMoCA following thi lockuter howing, cheduled to run ever Frida though the month of June.

Once again, each Frida evening creening at Rooftop Cinema i organized into a erie. Thee are titled: "The trange World of cience Fiction," " Hand: The Art of Animation," "Film a/on a attlefield," and "W.O.R.D. G.A.M..." ach feature four or five hort work, running an where from two-and-a-half minute to a half-hour in length, and created primaril filmmaker from the U.., along with a couple from Canada and the U.K.

The Dail Page recentl poke with Tom Yohikami aout Rooftop Cinema, what viewer can expect thi ear, and the film communit in Madion. Thi interview follow.

The Dail Page: What wa the igget urprie lat ummer in the inaugural ear of Rooftop Cinema?

Yohikami: The turnout.

It urpried the mueum a well, a the had no idea it would e o popular. When we tarted thi lat ear, it wa an experiment to ee if thi kind of programming would e popular. The amazing turnout proved to the mueum that there i a home for it in Madion. I do think the popularit tem a lot from the fact that people get to watch the movie outide in the eautiful culpture garden, and not necearil through the trength of the programming. ut that help too.

What kind of comment did ou aout thi experiment?

The feedack wa overwhelmingl poitive. Man attendee at the firt creening were mueum patron howed up for the Firt Frida at MMoCA. The didn't know what to expect and weren't familiar with avant-garde film, ut the decided that the would tick around.

A it turn out, came ack for more. The erie gained momentum a it went along. The numer of people at the final creening wa omething like 120, and there wa onl night out of the four where we had ad weather.

One thing there wa a lot of interet in wa chair, which the mueum i unale to provide. Therefore, we encourage people to ring their own lawn chair or lanket. Come earl and take out a pot!

Are there an connection etween what wa creened lat ear and the programming thi ummer?

One film I wa a little it heitant to program lat ummer wa Power of Ten Charle and Ra ame, ecaue it' not avant-garde in the trictet ene and I thought that man people might have een familiar with it. People reponded reall well to it, though, and that inpired me in part to creen La Jette thi ummer.

We alo creened Hold Me While I'm Naked George Kuchar lat ear. Thi Frida, we're creening Dwarf tar, which wa created hi rother Michael Kuchar. I alo had people tell me that the liked film Roert reer, mil reer, and Owen Land, o we're creening more of their film thi ear.

One of the thing were doing a little differentl i that we're tarting the film a little later. A the ummer went on, the un went down later and later, o we're puhing ack the tart time to 9:30 p.m. for thi ear.

Will ou e uing the ame et-up, with the creen ituated on the eat ide of the garden and a 16 mm projector?

More or le. We are alo going to how ome video creation thi ear, though, o we will alo have a video projector and deck. Additionall, the mueum i providing the creen and ound tem from in houe, a oppoed to renting it from Overture lat ear.

I'll e working with Jerad Lewi, a good friend and the projectionit at Cinematheque, and we're atified well e ale to witch format moothl. Thi i not a ea a it ound, though.

How did ou decide what film to creen thi ear?

The're either thematic or technique-aed. Three of the erie are aed upon a genre, and one focue upon technique.

Uuall, the programming for a erie egin with one film. For example, I aw Dominic Angerame' Anaconda Target at the Whitne iennal lat ummer, and it lew me awa. Thi film ue pre-exiting militar footage of aerial ortie over Afghanitan. It' omething when I aw it I though thi would pla ver well, particularl on the rooftop of the mueum.

o I egan thinking what kind of program could I uild around that film, and I though mae uing the idea of the attlefield would prove intereting. Then I egan to think of other film that would work well alongide of it.

What aout the animation erie?

MMoCA Curator of ducation heri Catelnuovo aked if I might e intereting if programming Larr Jordan' film The 40 and 1 Night (or Je' Didactic Nickelodeon) for Rooftop Cinema. Thi i a film aout an animator, o I got to thinking aout other animation or film aout animator. Thi led to the wonderful Canadian film Ran Chri Landreth and The Film that Rie to the urface of Clarified utter Owen Land, which rip on the proce of animation. Then I thought aout film that have different tpe of animation, uch a 70 where Roert reer ue pra paint.

I purchaed a video caette cop of La Jetee long ago, and the film ha recentl een releaed on DVD the Criterion Collection. Thi i a prett well known film a it wa the ource for Terr Gilliam' 12 Monke. Do ou think people will e familiar with it?

I'm not ure if people will recognize it. If we had creened thi eight ear ago, people might have, ut thee da, I don't know. I would hope o. It i one of thoe intantl appealing film that people take to ver quickl and end up ticking in our head for quite ome time. I don't think I have ever met anone who han't liked La Jetee.

It' one of m favorite film. It' alo one of the few film that inpire me to make film, ecaue it' told primaril through till image, with one notale and extremel important exception. I think it i a reall intereting wa of ridging till photograph and cinema.

I actuall contacted Criterion, and the put me in touch with New Yorker Film, who ha the actual theatrical right for the film. We're renting a 16 mm print of it, o the experience i impl going to e much, much richer than on videotape or DVD.

In lat ear' Unuual Landcape" erie, ou featured k lue Water Light ign UW profeor J.J. Murph, who alo erve a curator for the potlight Film & Video erie at MMoCA. Are ou creening an work made him or an other Madion-aed filmmaker thi ear?

One of the thing I wa mot excited aout programming lat ear wa JJ Murph' film. I think there' a prett large contingent of folk in thi town that would like to ee Murph' work more often.

o I'm particularl excited to creen hi film cience Fiction in "The trange World of cience Fiction" erie thi Frida night. Thi five minute work wa the firt of Murph' film that I have ever een. It' a ver different film than k lue Water Light ign and doe a ver good jo of highlighting the diverit of hi work. It wa the firt film I knew I wanted to program, and the cience fiction erie i programmed around it.

There are man other of Murph' film that I would love to how, ut due to the contriction of each evening' program, where we onl have 45 minute to an hour, the're impl too long.

Are ou till getting the majorit of our election from Canon Cinema in an Francio and The Film-maker' Cooperative in New York? What other ource to ou utilize to acquire film for the creening?

Ye, though we are going to the National Film oard of Canada for a couple film, a well a from an individual filmmaker. Thi i Martha Colurn, from whom we acquired Cometic mergenc for our attlefield erie.

What i the role of Curator of ducation heri Catelnuovo and the taff at MMoCA in creating Rooftop Cinema?

The're reall the organizer of thi whole event. MMoCA i ringing me in to curate thee erie.

The're amazing to work with, I couldn't ak for a etter collaorator. I think the like the erie, a well. The realize it ring in a lightl different audience and give a different kind of expoure to the mueum.

Wh did ou elect to keep the erie to four week again thi ear?

udgetar contraint. One tpe of feedack we got quite a it lat ear were people aking wh we couldn't continue thee creening all ummer. Hopefull thi i omething that we can grow in the future, perhap even in the fall and pring a well.

What are ou plan in cae of inclement weather? We'll head down to the MMoCA Lecture Hall and creening room, which i where the potlight and Wiconin Film Fetival creening take place. Although we won't e ale to look up to the tar in the cae of rain, it will till e a fun evening.

Forecat call for rain tonight and tomorrow night, ut for great though poil cool weather on Frida. I'm keeping m finger croed.

What are our goal for Rooftop Cinema thi ummer?

I would impl love for people to enjo themelve. I hope we get ome freh face who get expoed to a different tpe of cinema than the might have tpicall een in the pat. I think one of the good thing aout the erie i it diverit, from it rigid tructuralit avant-garde film to other with a prett trong narrative that incorporate a lot of comed.

Film in Madion i looming via the film fetival, online video ucce torie, the inaugural undance theater, and o on. Where doe Rooftop Cinema fit into thi?

I hope that it complement the other film erie taking place. The fetival doe a great jo creening experimental work, and I've tried to do more of that at Cinematheque, ut there' till a paucit of it in Madion. Certainl the art cinema proper in town uch a Wetgate or undance doen't creen man experimental or hort film, and the mueum i one of the few place that doe do that.

I hope Rooftop Cinema attract an audience from thoe other place, and add to people ene of the hitor and diverit of the medium. omething like La Jetee i an intereting example. A ig udget Hollwood adaptation of a medium length hort film, more or le avant-garde and told through till photo, i prett amazing.

What i the future of Rooftop Cinema?

I would love for people to come to count on thi a a taple of Madion ummertime activitie.

Though I am tepping down from curating Cinematheque, I'll till e here working on m diertation and active in the Madion film communit. I'll till e programming for the film fetival, and I hope to do Rooftop Cinema again next ear.

The firt of four weekl Rooftop Cinema creening will e held atop the Madion Mueum of Contemporar Art thi Frida, June 8, with the reel cheduled to egin rolling at 9:30 p.m. Once again, popcorn and drink will e old Freco. Ticket are $5, or $15 for the entire erie. ach uequent creening will e held on Frida night at the mueum garden through the lat week in June.

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Five-ear-old Xander pinler tand on the each looking down at the and. “Do I have to take m hoe off?” he ak Renee Gavigan, who i leading toda’ Art Cart plater and cating activit at Warner each. Gavigan, an art education tudent at UW-au Claire and ummer Art Cart teacher, confirm that Xander will need to remove hi hoe in order to make a footprint in the and. “ut I can’t do m face,” he announce matter-of-factl.

Xander’ 2-ear-old rother, Milo, toddle near around the each. omeone ak Xander and Milo’ mom, Anjee orge, if Milo want to participate in the activit. “ure, I’ll hove hi hand in a plater mold for the fun of it,” orge a with a laugh. orge’ mom, andi Daniel, help Milo make a handprint in the and while orge watche a oth o’ ee light up when the plater get poured into the hole the dug in the and. orge a he had heard of the Art Cart ut didn’t know it would e at Warner each that afternoon, jut lock from her home on Madion’ north ide. “I went to the grocer tore and drove pat and aw the van and wa like ‘Ye! I’m going home to get the kid!’” orge a.

Friend Charlie Granerg, 12, and lie ramlett, 13, alo tumled upon the and cating activit. “We were jut riding our ike ,” a Virginia Vormann, Charlie’ mom. “ut thi i an unexpected treat.”

“The Art Cart i a it of a well-kept ecret,” a rika Monroe-Kane, director of communication for the Madion Mueum of Contemporar Art (MMoCA). “People think that it’ magical and that it jut how up.” Art Cart and Art Cart XTRA! are free outdoor art program that travel to park, plaground and eache acro Dane Count in the ummer. The Art Cart, which travel to Madion ite Monda through Frida, i a partnerhip etween MMoCA and Madion chool and Communit Recreation (MCR). Art Cart XTRA!, ponored MMoCA, travel on aturda to communitie eond Madion, including DeForet, toughton and Cro Plain.

The Art Cart program tarted in the mid-1970. ince then, a heri Catelnuovo, curator of education at MMoCA, “it’ reall grown.”

“When it firt tarted it wan’t ever da and onl went to downtown Madion ite. ut each ear it’ evaluated and we continue to expand the program.” Thi ummer’ program, which launched June 14, include 50 ite and 89 eion that will run through Augut 9.

Catelnuovo a the program i a product of 1960 ideal. “Thi i the program that came out of that etho,” he a, “when a lot of mueum were thinking that we need to ring the thing that we do outide of our mueum wall. That i reall where Art Cart wa orn.”

Catelnuovo a a miion of the ummer art program i to focu on area that don’t tpicall have art programming. “Thi program goe all over town and, a we know, ome area of Madion are more privileged than other a far a having out of chool time pent in private art leon. It’ one wa we can ring a road cope of art acce to the communit of Madion and eond Madion,” Catelnuovo a. In addition to the and cating, other activitie include printmaking, painting and collage; participant alwa go home with at leat one project.

“There are a lot of different wa for people to engage with art and art making and the power of art in a fun, low preure wa, whether it’ eing on the each doing a cating or a elf-guided exploration in MMoCA’ galler,” Monroe-Kane a.

Monroe-Kane, thinking ack to when her kid were oung, offer another reaon to ring children to the free Art Cart event. “A a parent, thi i eond the finger painting at the dining room tale that I ued to do,” Monroe-Kane a. “There i a lot more knowledge ehind it and I don’t have to clean up the me.” For a complete chedule for the Art Cart program viit MMoCA’ weite.

Numer of ear Art Cart ha exited: 43

Numer of children who viit Art Cart program in the ummer: 3,600

Gallon of paint ued each ummer: 20

Pound of plater ued each ummer: 500

quare mile covered Art Cart XTRA!: 910

A few upcoming event: Jul 5 at at Madion Communit Center, 1 p.m.- 4 p.m.; Jul 6 at Tenne each, 1 p.m.- 4 p.m.; Jul 7 at Dicover Garden in McFarland, 10 a.m.- 12 p.m.

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“ver child i an artit,” Palo Picao once aid. The jut don’t all get to how their work.

ut ome luck one do. ver two ear the “Young at Art” how at MMoCA feature olo and collaorative work created tudent in the Madion Metropolitan chool Ditrict. Thi ear’ exhiit i the larget to date, a heri Catelnuovo, the mueum’ curator of education, with contriution from more than 700 tudent.

Catelnuovo a one of the role of local chool i to hone tudent’ viual expreion, and MMoCA make a valuale contriution diplaing their art.

“tudent feel their work i valued, that the’re valued and, extenion, all children’ expreion i valued,” Catelnuovo a. “The pulic enefit getting to ee how man different wa tudent are expreing themelve.”

ome of the artit ue traditional medium, uch a pencil, paint and culpture; other ue newer form like Adoe Illutrator and computer animation. One animated work, preented on a computer monitor, i a collaoration etween Cretwood lementar art and muic tudent, who cored the piece. The how alo include a wall of portrait. MMoCA taff grouped art theme, rather than age, making for a more virant, eclectic experience.

ome painting feature rightl painted root and animal, ut there are alo work of urpriing ophitication. tudent applied concept and kill the learned in cla. “A ou walk the how, ou reall ee kid expanding their ailit to think criticall and appl that viuall,” Catlenuovo a.

One uch piece i a ceramic culpture entitled roken, La Follette High chool enior Kaotee Thao. The artwork i one of five choen MMoCA and Adam Outdoor Advertiing for dipla on local illoard. roken conit of a pair of hackled feet linked a rut-colored chain to a pike that look a if it ha jut een pulled from the ground. “It’ aout how ou can overcome an kind of otacle, and that ou grow from it,” Thao tell Ithmu.

“At ‘Young at Art’ ou’re going to ee a lot of freh, inightful work exploring ome profound idea from the point of view of a oung peron,” Catelnuovo a. “The ame kind of hait of mind that can e een in the cience are alo here in art. The ailit to ee thing from multiple perpective. To know there in’t one ole interpretation or anwer to a prolem.”

“Young at Art” run through Ma 10 in MMoCA’ tate treet Galler. The opening reception i unda, April 12, 3-4:30 pm. The at High Jazz Orchetra will perform.

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NOV 1, 2018

AUG 30, 2018 Search... Search

Tap into an eer-fueled converation and a variet of arroom philoophie ma emerge. Chance are the idea of ir Thoma More won’t e among them.

ut More’ philooph of civic reponiilit and ocial dicoure outlined in hi 1516 atire Utopia i a driving force for artit Meg Mitchell and her latet project at the Madion Mueum of Contemporar Art.

Mitchell, an aociate profeor of digital media at UW-Madion, joined Octopi rewing and deign tudio Art & on to create the “Civic xchange ociet,” whoe firt artitic effort i called C-001 Juic Return IPA. The haz, hopp eer i rewed in the popular New ngland tle and packaged in interactive can complete with aing from More and other philoopher.

eer, it ver nature, promote ocial dicoure and create it own rand of communit, a Mitchell, who decrie herelf a a “caual eer enthuiat.” he think the releae of Juic Return IPA could encourage dicuion eond the etalihed art communit.

“Meg created a coded, two-digit alphaet and during Galler Night on Ma 4, he’ll e paing out paage of text that are written in the coded language he devied,” a MMoCA curator Leah Kol. Right elow the lip of the eer can i the alphaet, and Mitchell will alo e ditriuting a device that fit over the top of the can and enale people to decode the text. The firt three people to uccefull decode their text will win a limited edition print Mitchell created.

“Art a product i part of the changing landcape, and commercial practice are ecoming fair game for artit to ue,” Mitchell a. “omething availale in a retail context i a wa to pull people into a mueum who might not otherwie engage in art.”

The new project evolved from Mitchell’ 2017 MMoCA intallation “Numimatic Hop xchange: A Hop Garden for Unielding People,” which conit of ix identical aluminum eam caling the rick wall in the mueum’ rooftop culpture garden. It’ alo a living trelli tem upporting a tangle of Northern rewer hop vine, a tpe known for it hardine.

Kol like that Mitchell’ work “doen’t fall into one genre or categor, and include culpture, ound, even living thing.” Mitchell call thi “4D art”; the current project’ collaorative practice and interdiciplinar approach fall into the 4D categor, he a.

Hop take center tage in the current project. ome of thoe rooftop Northern rewer hop are in Juic Return, ut there alo are other varietie at work, according to Iaac howaki, preident of Octopi, the rewer making the eer: Wiconin-grown Centennial, for grapefruit and lemon note; Pacific Northwet Denali, rich in pineapple and citru flavor; and lla, from Autralia, which add a fruit, floral aroma with a hint of anie and grapefruit rind.

ix-pack of Juic Return will retail for $12 in tore (Whole Food, Woodman, teve’. arle Pop and Octopi rewing); at MMOCA’ releae part, ingle will ell for $6/can.

The collaorator will alo releae a dr cider during the ummer and a dark porter i cheduled for fall to coincide with a hop harvet event in MMoCA’ rooftop culpture garden.

The project wa conceived Mitchell in partnerhip with MMoCA, which act a project facilitator, Kol a. oth Octopi and Art & on, which deigned the eer can art, provided pro ono upport for the project’ initial tage.

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MAY 24, 2018

F 15, 2018 Search MMoCA

PRESS RELEASES

Date of Release: Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Contact Info: Erika Monroe­Kane, Director of Communications 608.257.0158 x 237 or [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

NEW MUSEUM CURATORS REFLECTED IN UPCOMING MMoCA EXHIBITIONS

MADISON, WI­ The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) announces two new exhibitions, initiatives of the museum’s new curators who were each promoted to new roles last year. Following the 2017 retirement of senior curator Richard H. Axsom, Ph.D, Leah Kolb was appointed Curator of Exhibitions and Mel Becker Solomon was named Curator of the Permanent Collection. Kolb focuses on working directly with contemporary artists, developing new exhibition projects, and oversees the presentation of traveling exhibitions that MMoCA borrows from other museums. Becker Solomon oversees the exhibition, interpretation, and growth of the museum’s permanent collection.

A leading arts organization, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art was established in 1901, making it the oldest cultural institution in the area. MMoCA engages over 800,000 people a year in dynamic art experiences. Admission to the museum is free, providing wide access to changing exhibitions in four galleries, in addition to art installations in the lobby and the Rooftop Sculpture Garden. Under new curatorial leadership, the community will see the continuation of the museum’s commitment to organizing exhibitions that create opportunities to experience the work of emerging and established artists.

Prior to being promoted to Curator of Exhibitions, Leah Kolb worked closely with Axsom as MMoCA’s Associate Curator. Together, they organized the traveling exhibition Frank Stella Prints: A Retrospective (2016) and the accompanying publication “Frank Stella Prints: A Catalogue Raisonne.” They continue their collaboration with an upcoming catalogue raisonné of Terry Winters’ prints and drawings, which is slated to be published in 2020. In her role as Associate Curator, Kolb also secured funding to reopen the museum’s black box gallery that is dedicated solely to moving image art. She has since commenced a consistent program of video­based exhibitions featuring work by established and emerging artists, including William Kentridge, Kim Schoen, Rashaad Newsome, and José Carlos Teixeira. Organizing recent exhibitions such as Claire Stigliani: Half­Sick of Shadows (2016), and Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time (2017), Kolb has demonstrated a commitment to working with artists who address complex contemporary issues though experimental approaches to art.

“It is an honor to build on the museum’s legacy by thinking about ways to include new voices, perspectives, and methods of artistic creation,” Kolb stated. “We have an exciting opportunity to present exhibitions by artists who are pushing the boundaries, both visually and conceptually. It is through their work that we can open up more space for conversations within our community and within the broader art world, and I am looking forward to seeing where it takes us.”

Mel Becker Solomon, newly appointed Curator of the Permanent Collection, has worked as a museum professional for the past eight years. Prior to joining the staff at MMoCA, she served as Assistant Research Curator in the Prints and Drawings department at the Art Institute of Chicago. Her previous projects include serving as author and co­editor of an online catalogue on Gauguin in addition to her contributions to publications on Matisse, Renoir, and Manet. Becker Solomon received her M.A. in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory, and Criticism in 2014 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she received the department’s fellowship award upon the completion of her thesis on Chicago artist Ivan Albright’s infusion of the metaphysical in his paintings.

“With over 5,000 works of art, the museum’s permanent collection is an incredible resource and a real treasure of Madison. I am honored to share my knowledge and enthusiasm for works on paper and Chicago Imagism, which are well represented in the fantastic collection here at MMoCA,” stated Becker Solomon.

MMoCA is pleased to announce the following upcoming exhibitions:

IRENE GRAU: CONSTRUCTION SEASON May 5–August 5, 2018

State Street Gallery

MMoCA Opening: May 4 • 5­9 pm with an artist talk 6:30­7:15 pm

(In conjunction with Gallery Night, admission is free.)

Irene Grau is a Spanish conceptual artist who challenges the boundaries of contemporary painting, the perception of color, and the limits of space. Taking the act of painting beyond the studio and off the canvas, she enters into the landscape to discover moments when the power of pure color alters our awareness of the world around us. In Irene Grau: construction season, on view in MMoCA's State Street Gallery from May 5 through August 5, 2018, Grau will present a new body of work she began last summer during her five­week artist residency in Madison.

Grau's work is grounded in the history of plein air painting, an in­situ practice of outdoor landscape painting based on direct observation, initiated by artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre­Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro in the latter half of the nineteenth century. These Impressionist leaders ushered in future experimentations in modernist art­making, including the most simplified expression of formal abstraction: the painted monochrome.

Playing with the concept and process of plein air painting, Grau traversed the Madison landscape not to recreate specific scenes with pigment on canvas, but to identify existing instances of monochromatic abstraction. She discovered a vernacular form of mark­making in the vibrant, color­coded lines and shapes spray­painted across the streets and sidewalks by utility workers. Appearing random and cryptic to the untrained eye, this sanctioned graffiti points to the subterranean infrastructure of pipes and wires that powers our city. By reframing the overlooked details within our everyday surroundings, Grau transforms a standardized mode of communication used by public works departments across the country into a series of monochrome paintings—plein air paintings not of landscape, but in it.

FAR OUT: ART FROM THE 1960S May 19–September 2, 2018

MMoCA Opening: June 1 • 6­9 pm

Far Out: Art from the 1960s explores art from a decade that introduced such movements as Pop, Op, Minimalism, Kinetic, Fluxus, and Conceptual Art, while weaving in the social and historical narrative of that time. The exhibition includes works by Calvin Burnett, Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Miriam Schapiro, Victor Vasarely, and the Chicago Imagists. Featuring works pulled from the MMoCA permanent collection, Far Out will be on view in the museum’s main galleries and featured in “The Madison Reunion,” conference on the 1960s taking place on campus in June of 2018.

The Sixties was a decade of radical experimentation that witnessed an incredible cultural and artistic revolution. The consumer­fueled optimism of the beginning of the decade was quickly dissolved by the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, world­wide student protests, and nightmarish assassinations—all broadcast into homes through the dominant medium of the time: television. A counterculture soon formed that rejected the conservative norms imposed by the previous generation and embraced inclusivity.

While the social and political turmoil of the decade prompted artists to create politicized works of art, artists were also in the process of rejecting their own art historical precedents and developing a counterculture of their very own. Seeking to reject the “artist as hero” mentality and the emotive and gestural brushstrokes that dominated Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s, artists began to look at popular culture and play with more formal elements in art. Artists experimented with optics, reincorporated the modernist grid, and downgraded the role of the artist’s hand in the creation of an art object—thereby rejecting the autobiographical and spiritual aspects imbued into the history of art. Instead, artists sought to incorporate the physical world around them bringing life into art and art into life.

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Housed in a soaring, Cesar Pelli­designed building, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art provides free exhibitions and education programs that engage people in modern and contemporary art. The museum’s four galleries offer changing exhibitions that feature established and emerging artists. The Rooftop Sculpture Garden provides an urban oasis with an incredible view. The museum is open: Tuesday through Thursday, noon–5 pm; Friday, noon–8 pm; Saturday, 10 am–8 pm; Sunday, noon–5 pm; and is closed on Mondays.

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The leek lack Mercede van pulled up to the front of the Madion Mueum of Contemporar Art, picked up Mel ecker olomon and drove directl to O’Hare International Airport.

Uing their ecurit clearance, the driver led ecker olomon through a maze of airport door and hallwa, and eventuall to an unmarked door. The quietl entered the airport’ cargo a, where crate on pallet on forklift whizzed around at dizzing peed.

ecker olomon, 37, MMoCA’ newl appointed curator of the permanent collection, wa overeeing the tranport of one of the mueum’ mot treaured piece — a 1938 painting Frida Kahlo titled “Pitahaa” — to the Mudec Mueum of Culture in Milan, Ital, where it i currentl diplaed on loan.

The tak require contant vigilance.

“You have to know where [the painting] i at all time; I’m watching their ever move a the load it into a pallet. I’m making ure the platic i ealed properl, that it’ poitioned right,” a ecker olomon, who flew to Ital on a mall plane with the painting.

The curator ha pent a lot of time with thi Kahlo painting, uing her detective kill to track it lineage. “Until the 1980, no one knew where ‘Pitahaa’ wa: It wa alwa lited a ‘lot’ or ‘unknown,’” he a. It wa actuall tored here in Madion, in the collection of the Madion Art Center (which would later ecome MMoCA). ut no one knew where it had een efore it wa purchaed UW-Madion profeor Rudolph Langer and hi wife Louie in 1952. Langer’ famil donated it to the Madion Art Center after he died in 1968.

In 2017, ecker olomon et out to olve the mter, uing the mallet of clue, including torage note and archival information.

he wa the firt peron to full trace the hitor of “Pitahaa” — from it creation in 1938 to it original purchae a Lo Angele oil heire, to it eventual purchae the Langer.

Known a provenance reearch, thi tpe of detective work i ecker olomon’ calling card, and he excel at it. Thi ear, her ea tracing the hitor of “Pitahaa,” along with a digitization of the painting, will e featured in the Google Art & Culture project, an online dataae featuring more than 32,000 work from around the world; viewer will e ale to experience the work virtuall, from up cloe and ever angle.

“It’ the et part of m work.” he a.

Leah Kol, MMoCA’ curator of exhiition, tarted one da lat ummer with a text meage from panih artit Irene Grau: “ad new: the painter did that to m car. He’ calling ou tonight. He ha inurance.” A picture followed, depicting a 12-inch gah on the front-left umper and wheel well of a red edan.

Grau ent the meage to Kol during her ix-week reidenc in Madion lat ummer (much of the material for her current how at MMoCA, “Contruction eaon,” grew out of thi viit.).

It’ part of Kol’ jo to work with artit on the mall tuff (mangled umper) and igger thing — helping them tranlate their viion to tangile artwork, which he tackle with energ and a deft touch.

“It’ what ou have to to do,” he a. “[Artit] have an idea, and it’ m jo to figure out how to make it happen within the parameter of the pace.”

And even though Kol, 34, a Madion native, ha een in her current role for le than a ear, he’ alread curated olo how Kamui Olujimi and aited with an exhiition the world-renowned artit Jaume Plena. ome of Kol’ et work might e taking place under the radar. A video exhiition currentl on dipla in MMoCA’ Imprint Galler, “ON XIL” Joé Carlo Texieira, i one example. The tark, arreting video erie project dramatic up-cloe interview with people with mental illne, and Mulim refugee.

Part of the how’ impact ha to do with the manipulation of the galler pace itelf to create an optimal viewing experience. Video were normall projected on one of the maller wall in the room, ut he felt thi wan’t an adequate platform for the intallation.

“The power of Joé’ work i it emotional impact, which i heightened and intenified when viewer can e completel enveloped it,” a Kol. ecaue the galler’ larget wall contained a receed window, Kol (with the help of MMoCA’ director of intallation and facilitie rian artlett) created an entirel new, full-ize drwall urface. Watching “ON XIL” from mere feet awa, the viewer i urrounded the ound and image of the video.

Kol and ecker olomon, now deepl entrenched in the art world, found their calling relativel late. Kol, a Madion native, ha had a foot in the art phere ever ince her time at UW-Madion a an undergraduate tuding hitor, and later a a grad tudent focued on archival adminitration. “One of the thing that I love aout dealing with artit i that ou get to develop a rapport with them, and ou tart to undertand how the ee the world,” a Kol. “To work with an artit, ee a piece change and come together, and then get to witne the communit experience — it i reall pecial.”

ecker olomon didn’t conider entering the art world profeionall until pending time in Ital after graduating in 2003 from UW-Madion with a ociolog degree. he worked for everal ear at pic tem (“iding m time”) a a project manager efore attending the chool of the Art Intitute in Chicago in 2012.

After the 2017 retirement of MMoCA head curator Richard Axom, who Kol worked cloel under a aociate curator ince 2012, the mueum decided to plit hi role etween Kol and ecker olomon. There’ plent of work for oth of them, it eem.

“I’m a tenaciou reearcher and I love uncovering omething new aout a work of art,” a ecker olomon. “The interpretation of the piece aed on thi hitorical reearch i what drive me — developing a new tor to add to the work’ life tor that wa undicovered. And the et part i I get to hare it with other.”

ditor' note: Ithmu made everal correction to thi tor. Mel ecker olomon' name hould not have een hphenated, and her title i curator of the permanent collection. he did not ue the MMoCA weite in reearching the hitor of the Frida Kahlo painting. And taff at MMoCA knew the Langer had donated the painting to the Madion Art Center, ut didn't know how the Langer had acquired it. Although he ha curated everal ignificant exhiition, Leah Kol did not curate Jaume Plena' "Talking Continent"; he aited MMoCA director tephen Fleichman.

Type subject here...

JUL 12, 2018 E (https://bravamagazine.com)

/ October 6, 2015

/ In Her Shoes

T LEAH KOLB B R I N G I N G C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T T O M A D I S O N

By Melissa Falcon Field Photographed by Hillary Schave

What does it take to create a world-class contemporary art museum? Amazing art. Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s Associate Curator, Leah Kolb, is the one who brings it home. Warm, inspired and hard-working, the University of Wisconsin graduate is passionate about her role. Kolb, who works with MMoCA Senior Curator Rick Axsom and Director Stephen Fleischman, says hers is an independent and collaborative job, to “gure out how to frame exhibitions specically for a Madison audience.”

Her work is among the most glamorous—yet behind-the-scenes—careers in town, and Kolb dresses the part. She runs up the gallery’s glass staircase, clipboard in hand, in modish geometric jewelry, an angular black tunic and a pair of funky patent leather platforms. In a single morning’s work Kolb picks out paint colors for the gallery walls, has booked a trip to New York City to meet with a millionaire art collector, started an article about an upcoming show, determined the technological specs for a new media installation and has worked her way through legal copyright minutiae. It sounds overwhelming, but the 32-year-old Madison native takes her responsibilities in stride.

Kolb began working in the curatorial department at MMoCA while nishing her archival studies graduate degree at the UW, and in the last two years her role has expanded to include reviving the museum’s technologically outdated and underused multimedia gallery. Now called the Imprint Gallery, it offers an intimate and experiential environment where museumgoers can absorb multisensory works by contemporary artists who use less traditional artistic mediums, including moving images, experimental sound and light and digital technologies.

“Building MMOCA’s vision and bringing new digital contemporary works to Madison is a huge job,” says Erika Monroe-Kane, MMOCA’s director of communications. “And for Leah that work is an exhilarating and satisfying labor of love.”

Kolb channels that passion into seeking multimedia and multisensory artworks that are approachable from many angles. “Art should create a conversation among viewers,” Kolb says, “so the exhibitions we present are meant to direct a meaningful dialogue among the museum’s visitors, without being overly didactic.”

(https://bravamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/looking-at-art.png)That means traveling to New York City and Los Angeles, helping MMoCA donors select new acquisitions and composing text that helps viewers interpret a piece or installation by incorporating facts and historical context. “It’s my hope that by deciphering how each piece of art ts into the museum’s larger narrative, viewers will have something to grasp onto as they digest the exhibition,” she says. Kolb nds writing narratives for contemporary art—which at some museums can be a piece of hard-to-access art in itself— easier, in some ways, than writing about, say more classical art. “Contemporary artwork often addresses some aspect of contemporary life, which is something most people can identify with, or at least understand.”

For example, in September Kolb helped bring to MMoCA a digital installation by Jennifer Steinkamp, “Rapunzel 9, 1995,” a computer-generated, moving-image projection. It’s a show she’s been eager to share with the community because it embodies current developments in contemporary artistic practice. “The prominence of moving images and technology within contemporary life has opened up new opportunities for artists to create critically engaged work that challenges the form and content of media and technology production,” Kolb explains.

Selecting such pieces is a two-part process. “First, we recognize what new forms of art are emerging from a contemporary context, and next, we think about the museum’s commitment to contemporary art and the ways artists use moving images, data and sound as a means of expression to explore our contemporary age.”

Steinkamp’s “Rapunzel” comes to Wisconsin via New York, and Kolb enthusiastically describes attaining the piece. “MMoCA’s director, the donor, and I visited several galleries in Chelsea, looking at digital media pieces by over half-a-dozen different artists, and, after much discussion among us, we decided on the Steinkamp piece for the museum because of its immersive nature, which fuses beauty and rhythmic movement into a hypnotic work of art. It’s that aspect of the work that makes the installation a perfect t for our Madison community,” says Kolb.

Other innovative exhibitions she’s helped attain include the recent solo installations by Eric and Heather ChanSchatz and Milwaukee-based artist Jason Yi. Working closely with Kolb, Yi created a site-specic work that consumed MMOCA’s State Street Gallery and resulted in what she describes as “a moment that translated personally for each individual.”

And helping to translate that work for viewers, while allowing them to be absorbed inside a piece and its artistic expression, is Kolb’s aspiration. “Different people approach art in different ways. Some are interested in the larger historical or art historical context, while others are more concerned with what that art says about contemporary life. I try to show how the work as a whole can reect aspects of our lives—culturally, socially and in terms of the artist’s interpretation of a particular theme. But the balance is, of course, to give as much information as possible without telling the audience how to feel.”

Beyond acquiring and staging new contemporary and digital works, Kolb’s leadership role includes preparing 2016 installations that include a plant-based interactive project, which will premier in MMoCA’s rooftop sculpture garden.

(https://bravamagazine.com/wp-

content/uploads/2015/09/withart.png)Kolb grins when talking about this additional spring project. “It’s another installation I’m really excited for—this one exploring the connection between contemporary art and nature. And yes, sure, it’s something as wild as engineering trellises and guring out how to grow hops on the roof, but, you know I just love it, the same way I love bringing emerging artists to Madison, or helping Rick Axsom with his catalogue raisonné documenting all of Frank Stella’s prints. Every part of MMoCA, every show, every artist in residence, every trip to New York or L.A. pushes me to think about what will work in Madison, which means understanding the storytelling around each piece of art, and to think about where it is our community of viewers are willing to go.”