James Cagle

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Courtesy of the artist.

James Cagle, "Aurora," 2019. Archival pigment print, 6 x 5 inches.

December update: In order to support our community and help prevent further spread of COVID-19, MMoCA will temporarily close its galleries through the end of December. Please be sure to check back here, and at mmoca.org, to find out about upcoming virtual education and event programming. And, don’t forget to check out our virtual exhibition talks and tours that are available on our website and on our Facebook Events page. We look forward to welcoming you back into the galleries in January! Be well.

press release: There are just a few guidelines that we are asking every visitor to follow, and some enhanced sanitation measures that our staff will take to ensure everyone’s health and well-being. We ask that all guests agree to the following policies, which are based on local public health guidelines, prior to visiting the galleries:

• Masks or cloth face coverings required for all guests over the age of 5
• Maintain social distancing of 6 feet or more
• Wash your hands, or use hand sanitizer, often

MMoCA galleries will have floor markings and signage to aid in social distancing efforts, and hand sanitizer and tissues will be located at key points throughout public spaces. Guest capacity also will be limited based on local public health guidelines.

MMoCA will implement a number of other important safety measures. Please check our website frequently in case policies and preventative measures change.

Please note that gallery hours have changed for fall 2020. We are open: Thursday and Friday: 12-8 pm; Saturday: 10 am-8 pm; Sunday: 10 am-5 pm (Sundays from 10 am-12 pm are reserved for adults 60 and older and those with compromised immune systems).

Galleries are closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The Museum Store remains closed for repairs at this time. We look forward to seeing you back at MMoCA soon!

A FINAL MEDITATION ON ART

 The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art will present James Cagle: A Final Meditation on Art, a selection of works by the Wisconsin-based photographer who is known for transforming familiar objects and overlooked spaces into contemplative images. Cagle’s forthcoming exhibition centers on his most recent visual achievement: a quietly powerful photographic installation he conceived while confronting terminal illness. Supplemented by a selection of his earlier photographic work, in addition to an experimental film he produced in 1973, the exhibition reveals how Cagle’s poetic vision elevates his everyday surroundings into a world of associative possibilities.  

His work approaches its subjects in a similar way to an earlier generation of abstract photographers. Starting in the mid-twentieth century, they embraced the camera as a tool to evoke emotion rather than to document moments or events. Cagle similarly looks to his camera to express, in his words, “a sense of enigma, something revelatory and beyond conventional reality.” He achieves this, in part, through his exceptional ability to find beauty in the commonplace, focusing his lens on things as seemingly unremarkable as an orange Kleenex box or the creased cover of a paperback book. Deftly utilizing the constraints of the photographic frame, he creates tight compositions that either abstract or isolate elements of the real world, thereby allowing viewers to experience something familiar in a new way.

Cagle, in considering the end of his own life, delights in the expansiveness of potential meanings this body of work will undoubtedly engender among museum visitors. Imbuing the everyday with an aura of mystery, A Final Meditation on Art serves as Cagle’s final act of generosity: a lyrical eulogy to the creativity and profundity of daily life.

Generous support, to date, for James Cagle: A Final Meditation on Art has been provided by the Rona B. Malofsky Trust; Bill White; Jan Marshall Fox; Dane County Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation; the Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of the Capital Times; the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation; the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation; and a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Housed in a soaring, Cesar Pelli-designed 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.