Our Good Earth

Our Good Earth

Main galleries: June 4, 2016–August 21, 2016

Drawn from the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s permanent collection, Our Good Earth is an exhibition that features a wide range of artworks in many media. The exhibition addresses the varied concerns of modern and contemporary artists for the natural world: from realist landscapes to abstraction, conceptual art to pop art, Our Good Earth illuminates how artists reveal the marvels of nature, express compassion for the fragile beauty of flora and fauna, and caution against threats to the natural world. Audiences will be stimulated to think about social and political issues, climate change, natural disasters, and environmental renewal and restoration—issues made urgent by the changing nature of the planet.

The exhibition will also present works by artists of regional, national, and international renown including modern regionalists Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood; Chicago Imagists Roger Brown and Robert Lostutter; and artists currently working as University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty such as Nancy Mladenoff. Other artists of note include Sam Gilliam, Richard Misrach, and Alyson Shotz. Our Good Earth will be presented in MMoCA’s main galleries June 4 through August 21, 2016.

On the evening of Friday, August 19, guests will have a final opportunity to enjoy the main galleries exhibition Our Good Earth. This exhibition draws from the museum’s permanent collection, and features works in which artists explore the natural world. At 6:30 pm curator Richard H. Axsom will give a talk entitled "Not Just Another Pretty Landscape." Early nineteenth-century Romantic landscape painting in America visualized the untouched and spiritual beauty of the wilderness. And yet, there was a tension just below the surface that sprung from fears of industrialization and ruination of the land. Richard H. Axsom, MMoCA senior curator, will discuss how these values continue to inform modern and contemporary landscape artists, more urgently as climate and habitat changes have impacted nature. Fresh Hops will play live, high energy music in the rooftop sculpture garden, and Fresco will pass flavorful hors d’oeuvres.