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Wisconsin Artists Biennial and Laurel Lueders: Rebellion of Systems
Friday, January 17, 5:00–8:00
(WEST BEND, WI) On Friday, January 17, from 5:00 to 8:00 the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) will hold a reception to celebrate two exhibitions, the Wisconsin Artists Biennial and Laurel Lueders: Rebellion of Systems.
MOWA is proud to host for the first time the long-running Wisconsin Artists Biennial, on view January 17–March 9. Organized and sponsored by the Wisconsin Visual Artists (WVA), the Biennial is open to all artists throughout the state. This year’s exhibition was juried by Chicago-based painter and teacher Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, who chose 53 diverse artworks for the exhibition.
The Biennial has taken place without break since 1900. It was founded by Wisconsin’s oldest artist organization, WVA (originally named “The Society of Milwaukee Artists” and in 1913, re-named to “Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors”), which also was established in 1900. The exhibition, while always open to non-WVA members, has seen many homes throughout the last century, including the Fine Art Galleries at UW-Milwaukee, the Neville Public Museum in Green Bay, and most recently the Anderson Arts Center in Kenosha and the Rahr-West Museum in Manitowoc.
“As Wisconsin’s art museum, it is only fitting to have this time-honored exhibition presented at MOWA in our inaugural year in the new building,” said Laurie Winters, MOWA Executive Director | CEO. “We are thrilled to be able to give 53 very diverse artists the opportunity to have their artwork displayed here at MOWA.”
The show will include well-known artists like Warrington Colescott who has been an innovative Wisconsin printmaker for over 60 years. The exhibition will also highlight emerging artists like painter Tom Berenz, whose paintings express a tension between flat, graphic elements and the illusion of three-dimensional objects that seem to project from the canvas. This is a singular opportunity to experience some of the most thought-provoking art that is being produced in Wisconsin today.
MOWA is also celebrating, on January 17, the work of Madison and New York City-based artist and educator Laurel Lueders. Featured in MOWA’s ONE Gallery, Lueders presents Rebellion of Systems, a series of new photographs that uses the camera as its own means of abstraction. The images reference architectural environments, unrecognizable to specific location or time, but undeniably suggestive of human presence. The hazy wash of the images create the feeling of déjà vu, the experience of waking from a dream, or the attempt to recall a memory not fully formed. Laurel Lueders: Rebellion of Systems is on view through January 26, 2014 and is generously sponsored by the Mae E. Demmer Charitable Trust and the Edward U. Demmer Foundation.
