Abel Contemporary Gallery Exhibits
Lisa Gralnick
"Ceramic Still-Life II."
media release: September 17 - October 31, 2021, we present We All Imagine Worlds: Ann Orlowski, 18th Annual Ceramics Invitational, and in no. 5: Lisa Gralnick.
Opening Reception for all three shows Friday September 17, 5-9pm. Open to the public. Mask will be required at this event, no reservation needed. We look forward to seeing you!
Virtual Artist Talks:
Thursday, September 23, 5PM CDT – Ann Orlowski
Thursday, September 30, 5PM CDT – Lisa Gralnick
The online events will include: a video walk-through of the exhibition installed in the gallery, conversation with the artists about their work, and Q&A with the audience. Broadcast through Facebook live and available on our website, the recorded video will also be available to view after the event has ended.
We All Imagine Worlds: Ann Orlowski
Ann Orlowski is a painter based in Madison, WI. Her hard-edge depictions of architectural designs explore themes of modernity and industrialization. Orlowski’s clever use of line and color plays with our vision, manipulating our perspective and spatial awareness. “We All Imagine Worlds” is a series of paintings posing questions about perceived reality exploring how the known world is understood through the particular mind of each individual observer.
18th Annual Ceramics Invitational
For the 18th year, Abel Contemporary Gallery will host an invitational of new works by ceramicists from across the country. One of our most anticipated exhibits, this year the show will be available in person and online, including pieces by Rickie Barnett, Jamie Bates Slone, Craig Clifford, Nick DeVries, Mary Fischer, Gerit Grimm, Lynne Hobaica, Ani Kasten, Joanne Kirkland, Nancy Kubale, Alex Mandli, Ernest Miller, Ryan Myers, Charlie Olson, Patricia Sannit, Michael Schwegmann, Debbie Kupinsky, Marlene Miller, Lars Volt, Isaac Scott, Kristina Batiste, Adam Chau, Rain Harris, and Kyungmin Park.
In no. 5: Elegy: For Spinoza by Lisa Gralnick
Esteemed artist and professor of Art Metals at UW Madison, Lisa Gralnick’s illustrious four-decade career is decorated with numerous prestigious exhibitions, fellowships, grants, and awards; most recently, she was recognized by the American Craft Council as a 2020 College of Fellows Honoree. Gralnick is a true master of her craft, known for her thought-provoking work both that engages conceptually with and transcends material value and the history of art. This body of work, which address the long history of Dutch Still-Life Painting, was produced at the European Ceramic Workcentre in the Netherlands, an artist-in-residence center whose aim is to promote the development of ceramic art, design, and architecture. Informed by Gralnick’s life-long interest in and connection with 16th century Dutch Jewish philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, whose Calvinist ideals of frugality, modesty, restraint, and austerity was juxtaposed by his contemporaries paintings of elaborate and sensual renderings of exotics meats and fish and culinary delights, and their depictions of half-eaten gluttony and wealthy abandon. Gralnick’s work explores this tension and the darkness at their core that suggests the hollowness of earthly delights and the brevity of life as meditations on the human condition.