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Art history takes on a more serious tone in
Colescott’s recent series called Imperium,
based on imagery and subject matter reflecting
the war in Iraq. This is contemporary art that
intensely focuses on current events. In
Colescott’s hands, Piranesi-like architectural
prisons become mazes filled with military
personnel and Abu Graib prisoners. In these
recent works, the bawdy notes are still there, but
the figures are not as lighthearted and raucous
as their earlier incarnations; they are profoundly
infused with a sense of seriousness and
severity in accordance with the gravity of subject.
This installation of Myers and Colescott, as
displayed in the homey comfort of the Peltz
Gallery, seems less a chronological
representation of early versus recent works, and
more of a mélange that demonstrates the
intellectual approach of these two artists to their
respective themes. It is difficult to discern
stylistic developments or changes within the
oeuvre of each, but the juxtaposition of subject
and technique highlights the varying approaches
of each to their art.
- K. M. Murrell
Katherine Murrell is co-publisher of Susceptible
to Images.
Comments?
Email kmmurrell@susceptibletoimages.com
Past / Present: Frances Myers and Warrington Colescott
Peltz Gallery
1119 E. Knapp Street, Milwaukee.
414-223-4278
Through December 31.
Warrington Colescott and Frances Myers are quite a pair artistically. Both printmakers are associated
with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but this exhibition reveals the two as engaging opposites
through their work.
This exhibition is titled “Past/Present,” which refers to the chronology of the pieces by both artists, as the
installation incorporates early and more recent work. However, this temporal distinction is not as
apparent as the seeming intentions of the two artists.
Peltz Gallery
1119 E. Knapp Street, Milwaukee.
414-223-4278
Through December 31.
Warrington Colescott and Frances Myers are quite a pair artistically. Both printmakers are associated
with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but this exhibition reveals the two as engaging opposites
through their work.
This exhibition is titled “Past/Present,” which refers to the chronology of the pieces by both artists, as the
installation incorporates early and more recent work. However, this temporal distinction is not as
apparent as the seeming intentions of the two artists.
Myers' work revolves around an interest
in seventeenth-century mystics, figures
who were consumed by religious
devotion and witnessed visions and
supernatural ecstasy. Nuns and monks
appear in Myer’s work, not as visual
shorthand for religion but as references
to specific figures and experiences,
such as that of Teresa of Avila, the
Spanish mystic whose divine
encounters are recorded in her writing.
Myers uses photocopied and repeated
images in several pieces, their grainy
contours and dropped details conjuring
up Andy Warhol. This is more than a
surface connection, however.
Celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe
became the subject of Warhol’s iconic
in seventeenth-century mystics, figures
who were consumed by religious
devotion and witnessed visions and
supernatural ecstasy. Nuns and monks
appear in Myer’s work, not as visual
shorthand for religion but as references
to specific figures and experiences,
such as that of Teresa of Avila, the
Spanish mystic whose divine
encounters are recorded in her writing.
Myers uses photocopied and repeated
images in several pieces, their grainy
contours and dropped details conjuring
up Andy Warhol. This is more than a
surface connection, however.
Celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe
became the subject of Warhol’s iconic
| Installation of works by Frances Myers. Left image: Untitled (Letter) |
pictures, and were devotional icons in themselves. Repeated over and over in a cacophony of celebrity
gluttony, Monroe and her peers were rearranged and re-colored in an optical chant that sang the praises
and illusions of fame. Myers recalls this sort of engagement esoterically in works such as Untitled (Letter);
after all, it’s the spirit, not movie stars, that are under consideration. The stark black nun’s habit seeps and
stretches in a charcoal haze from the background blackness, and over and over her hands are repeated in
prayer. But in the middle is a sealed letter, the contents unknown. There is something hidden, something
written but concealed at the center, like mysteries that lie in the core of the soul and mind.
While Myers’ work positions itself at the intersection of spirit and intellect, Colescott’s reflects his penchant
for interaction through serious and saucy vignettes. The artist’s hand is revealed through his fascinating
lines that vibrate with energy, a far cry from the elegant remove of Myers’ austere lithographs and
photocopies. Color is often bright and unabashed in his work, but there are exceptions, such as his
monochromatic treatment in the piece from his ‘History of Printmaking’ series, Rembrandt Bankrupt
(1978). But this work is not altogether formal and staid; Colescott’s wink-wink humor comes through in the
conspiratorial figures in the front of the composition who whisper, “prints are a good investment.” More
unabashed art historical humor is seen in his rendition of the sixteenth-century master Albrecht Dürer in My
Trip to Germany – At Nuremburg the Master was expecting me, where Dürer’s admirers are decked out in t-
shirts bearing his famous signature mark.
gluttony, Monroe and her peers were rearranged and re-colored in an optical chant that sang the praises
and illusions of fame. Myers recalls this sort of engagement esoterically in works such as Untitled (Letter);
after all, it’s the spirit, not movie stars, that are under consideration. The stark black nun’s habit seeps and
stretches in a charcoal haze from the background blackness, and over and over her hands are repeated in
prayer. But in the middle is a sealed letter, the contents unknown. There is something hidden, something
written but concealed at the center, like mysteries that lie in the core of the soul and mind.
While Myers’ work positions itself at the intersection of spirit and intellect, Colescott’s reflects his penchant
for interaction through serious and saucy vignettes. The artist’s hand is revealed through his fascinating
lines that vibrate with energy, a far cry from the elegant remove of Myers’ austere lithographs and
photocopies. Color is often bright and unabashed in his work, but there are exceptions, such as his
monochromatic treatment in the piece from his ‘History of Printmaking’ series, Rembrandt Bankrupt
(1978). But this work is not altogether formal and staid; Colescott’s wink-wink humor comes through in the
conspiratorial figures in the front of the composition who whisper, “prints are a good investment.” More
unabashed art historical humor is seen in his rendition of the sixteenth-century master Albrecht Dürer in My
Trip to Germany – At Nuremburg the Master was expecting me, where Dürer’s admirers are decked out in t-
shirts bearing his famous signature mark.
| Warrington Colescott, Imperium: Down in the Green Zone, 2006. Etching, 24 x 30 1/2 in. |