Art work by Pedro Vélez, Photo Courtesy of Portrait Society
Gallery
PRART NEWS - Pedro Vélez and Greg Klassen present new bodies of work at
Portrait Society Gallery through November 14, 2015, in an exhibition titled
Revealing Nature.
Curated by Claudia Arzeno and gallery director Debra
Brehmer, the exhibition brings together two artists who individually consider
the entwined relationships between the artist, his or her influences, creative
production as well as the relationship these have to both human nature and the
natural world.
Vélez, one of three Milwaukee-affiliated artists in the 2014
Whitney Biennial, is known for his paintings and photo collages that use social
media references to express commentaries on cultural, political and racial
issues. This body of work, Revealing Nature: Pedro Vélez Social and Private
Portraits, steps away from these previous explorations and delves into more
personal and intimate subject matter.
In this new series, Vélez looks at the idea of the artist’s
muse — in other words, the artist’s source of inspiration. What does this
influential person, thing, place or idea say about his or her nature? The
artist has revisited past photographic work as well as personal relationships,
romantic relationships, break ups and places in order to analyze what tends to
spark his creativity. In an effort to be
more self-aware, Velez asks himself why he keeps going back to certain people
as sources of inspiration. The findings
were then translated into new portraits, flower paintings, abstracted
depictions of the body and intimate photo collages that function as a fractured
narrative in which the dynamics of personal and platonic relationships are
blurred.
Art work by Pedro Vélez, Photo Courtesy of Portrait Society Gallery
Art work by Greg Klassen , Photo Courtesy of Portrait Society Gallery
Greg Klassen is a Milwaukee-based artist. Klassen’s notion
of “Revealing Nature” places the artist, the studio and the natural world in a
dynamic relationship that explores how ideas of growth, inspiration, survival,
decay and creativity come to fruition. He breaks down the walls between art
production and the forces of nature. For example, Klassen has buried his
painted canvases in compost piles to let the natural processes of decay color
and shape his compositions. He has also brought plants into the studio, tossed
them into piles of studio debris, set up a home-made watering system and
allowed nature to take its course. He has said of his work, “My art is the
design of experiments, the staging of serendipitous expeditions.” This
exhibition will feature several projects including a series of sculptural
sketchbooks.
Pedro Vélez
Pedro Vélez’s recent exhibitions include the 2014 Whitney
Biennial in New York; Morally Reprehensible at 101 / Exhibit, LA;
#DrunkDictators, an “On The Wall” installation at Monique Meloche Gallery,
Chicago; Ransom Notes and Surrender Flags at AREA, Caguas Puerto Rico; No
Regrets at Oliver Francis Gallery in Dallas.
His work as both an artist and writer has been discussed in
the LATimes, Chicago Tribune, Al Jazeera America, Huffington Post, New York
Times, Artforum, Mutual Art, Frieze, Artspace and The Miami Herald among many
other publications. For 10 years Pedro Vélez maintained a regular column about
the art scenes in San Juan and Chicago for Artnet Magazine. In addition, his
writing has been published in Newcity, New Art Examiner and Arte al Día.
Pedro Vélez’s work merges his interest in art criticism
(including his own writing) and journalism into what he calls “visual essays”
that take the form of large sculptural paintings, photographic collages, and
limited edition posters and postcards resembling the look and feel of movie
posters. Velez also incorporates text in his work, based on hashtags lifted
from Twitter, that are scathingly critical as well as poetically cryptic. Taken
together, Vélez’s multi-disciplinary approach creates a vibrant,
stream-of-consciousness commentary on a variety of issues, encompassing race,
politics, and other aesthetic concerns.
Greg Klassen
Greg Klassen (b. 1965) earned his bachelor’s degree at the
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and did advanced study at Kunst Akademie
Dusseldorf, Germany. He was one of the last artists to study under Gerhard
Richter in the 1990s.
A major exhibition, Perishable Atlas, was staged at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Institute of Visual Arts in 2011. He
recently exhibited a collaborative
project at Usable Space, Milwaukee. Other exhibitions include the
Watrous Gallery, Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, Jurgen Kalthoff Gallery
(Germany).
Art work by Greg Klassen , Photo Courtesy of Portrait
Society Gallery
Portrait Society Gallery
Portrait Society is a contemporary art gallery in Milwaukee,
WI dedicated to the issues surrounding the genre of portraiture. Established in
2008, the gallery showcases both current and historic artists who work broadly
and loosely with the conceptual ideas embedded in portrait traditions.
Location: 207 E. Buffalo Street, Marshall Building, FIFTH
floor (suite 526). Located in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward, Milwaukee, WI
53202 Hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, noon to 5 p.m - Phone: 414.870.9930
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