Taj Matumbi & Allison Uselman

media release: Be inspired and gain a new understanding of our world as you enjoy Overture Galleries’ new exhibits, now on display! The spring/summer 2022 cycle of exhibits in Galleries I, II and III runs through Sunday, September 4, and “Life As We Don’t Know It” in the Playhouse Gallery runs from Tuesday, May 3 through Sunday, Aug. 28. Join artists for Galleries Talks on Friday, May 6 from 5-8 p.m. Artists’ talks in Playhouse Gallery, 5-6 p.m., and artists’ talks in Galleries I, II, III, 6-8 p.m. In addition, Overture is pleased to host the Latino Art Fair on Saturday, May 7 from 4-6 p.m. in the Promenade Terrace and Promenade Hall.

The spring/summer exhibitions’ media range from painting, ceramic and glasswork and connect to a variety of topics—from dreams to storytelling to scientific theories. The artists explore how we understand our world—from the internal psyche to external concepts. Overture is proud to collaborate with the Marie Christine Kohler Fellows Program at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery in the Playhouse Gallery to examine the questions of what constitutes life, the living and its origins.

Overture Galleries are always free and open to the public, and most artworks are for sale by regional artists.

GALLERY I: IRIDESCENT WINDOWS by Lelia Byron & Luisa Fernanda García-Gómez: Lelia Byron and Luisa Fernanda García-Gómez unearth maps revealing iridescent windows into their inner selves. Byron’s vibrant paintings translate dream fragments where tangles, isolation, cycles and the fantastical collide. Through repetitive printing and the creation of patterns, García-Gómez reflects on her own behavior and the conflicting expectations of society and herself.

GALLERY II: LIQUID HOLES by Bunny Attack and Karolina Romanowska: Bunny Attack (aka Sara Christenson) and Karolina Romanowska delve into intimate human emotions with anthropomorphic surrealism. Bunny Attack utilizes a rabbit motif in detailed ink drawings to convey universal feelings of love, loss and fear. Sculptor Romanowska molds folk masks and figures reflecting the dichotomy of internal and external self-expression of identity and emotions.

GALLERY III: FICTIVE REALITIES by Taj Matumbi & Allison Uselman: Taj Matumbi and Allison Uselman investigate visual storytelling with two-dimensional media. Matumbi blends formal abstraction with intentionally naive and self-taught drawing style which represent childhood rites of passage while alluding to individual and collective angst of recent years. For Uselman, stories are the most interesting way she inhabits the world. She illustrates her self-authored short stories with an idiosyncratic vision.

PLAYHOUSE GALLERY: “Life As We Don’t Know It”: Tuesday, May 3 – Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022: Life As We Don’t Know It is an exploration of the limits of what both scientists and artists consider “life.” A cohort of multimodal artists have worked collaboratively to redefine what might count as life. The resulting art of this collaboration unveils a cosmos that inhabits new realms of possibility. Sponsored by the Marie Christine Kohler Fellows Program at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.

Conversation with artists and scientists of Life As We Don’t Know It , Wednesday, Aug. 24, 7 p.m., Rotunda Studio: The concept of “life” is nebulous – something that is known to all, but undefinable. Join us in a conversation with Life As We Don’t Know It artists and scientists who will approach, encroach, and even disrupt understandings of what might count as life, challenging human sense-making and grids of intelligibility.  

LATINO ART FAIR – Saturday, May 7, 4-6 p.m.: Join us for the 8th Annual Latino Art Fair – “amArte” – in which Wisconsin Latino artists celebrate the power of love through art to foster understanding, compassion and forgiveness. The event features about 15 local visual artists with art for sale along with arts activities and a face painting artist for youth. Entertainment will be provided by Latino Arts Strings Program, a youth mariachi group from Milwaukee. The evening concludes with a ticketed performance to Mariachi Herencia de México in Capitol Theater at 7:30 p.m. The Latino Art Fair is co-presented by the Latino Chamber of Commerce and Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development (LOUD).

Overture Galleries are sponsored by The Arts Access Fund, a component fund of the Madison Community Foundation and by contributions to Overture Center for the Arts.

View our health and safety policies at overture.org/health. Building Hours: Monday-Tuesday, closed; Wednesday-Saturday, 11-6; Sunday, 12-6; and extended hours on event days.