| Italy: Scenes and Life Uihlein Peters Gallery 1840 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee Through September 23. |
The exhibition "Italy: Scenes and Life" by printmakers Janet Baumler and Joeann Daley, currently at Uihlein
Peters Gallery, promises fresh insight into the Italian landscape. Both artists lived and worked in Florence for
extended periods of time: Daley for six years and Baumler for four months every year in the last decade.
During the opening reception’s presentation both artists talkedintensely about being extremely sensitive to
their environments and responding to their immediate surroundings in their work. Yet, the prints in the exhibit
do not provide the viewers any kind of revelatory experience.
Both Baumler and Daley work primarily in intaglio, a printmaking process which was developed in the Middle
Ages and bloomed in Europe between 16th and 18th centuries. Traditional intaglio encompasses a variety of
techniques (etching, aquatint, soft ground to name the most popular ones) requiring concentration and
attention almost unbelievable in the 21st century. The printer works with metal plates (or matrices) and
through a number of complex chemical processes, as well as hard physical labor, manipulates their
surfaces to etch desired images into them. The work is slow and painstaking. The plates usually go through
a number of transformations and changes before satisfactory effects are achieved. While working with this
ancient medium the artist has an opportunity to go beyond perceptual tools and sensibilities contemporary
media tune us to and can potentially look at reality with different eyes and talk about it from a new viewpoint. It
is a shame that neither Baumler nor Daley take advantage of that phenomenon.
Peters Gallery, promises fresh insight into the Italian landscape. Both artists lived and worked in Florence for
extended periods of time: Daley for six years and Baumler for four months every year in the last decade.
During the opening reception’s presentation both artists talkedintensely about being extremely sensitive to
their environments and responding to their immediate surroundings in their work. Yet, the prints in the exhibit
do not provide the viewers any kind of revelatory experience.
Both Baumler and Daley work primarily in intaglio, a printmaking process which was developed in the Middle
Ages and bloomed in Europe between 16th and 18th centuries. Traditional intaglio encompasses a variety of
techniques (etching, aquatint, soft ground to name the most popular ones) requiring concentration and
attention almost unbelievable in the 21st century. The printer works with metal plates (or matrices) and
through a number of complex chemical processes, as well as hard physical labor, manipulates their
surfaces to etch desired images into them. The work is slow and painstaking. The plates usually go through
a number of transformations and changes before satisfactory effects are achieved. While working with this
ancient medium the artist has an opportunity to go beyond perceptual tools and sensibilities contemporary
media tune us to and can potentially look at reality with different eyes and talk about it from a new viewpoint. It
is a shame that neither Baumler nor Daley take advantage of that phenomenon.
Baumler's intaglio work consists mainly of cityscapes.
Her prints present elegant, somewhat
post-impressionistic images of quiet streets and
squares, passages, nooks and corners, as well as
breezy Venetian waterways. Coarse and sensuous
aquatints enhanced with watercolor add to the
Signac-like luminosity of the pieces. Interestingly, the
public spaces the artist depicts are completely devoid of
human presence, ghostly as if they had been
abandoned long ago. They are also extremely elusive; it
is impossible to recognize where exactly we are, what
city we are in. Most of the characteristics of the specific
place are obscured by the play of light and shadow. This
is not Italy of the present, but Italy of the past, as we
remember it from old books, postcards and travel
souvenirs.
Daley's work is much more narrative in spirit and is
reminiscent of both Picasso and Wisconsin intaglio
master, Warrington Colescott. Many of her
compositions, like the hand-colored La Celebrazione
Italiana, are crowded with dense collages of famous,
iconic architectural and sculptural elements, as well as
with images of saints and mythological figures made
immortal by Italy's temples, churches and museums.
They look as if all the tokens and memorabilia of an
Italian journey were condensed into one.
Daley's other pieces (such as Traveling with My Friends,
The Flower Vendor, Lower Via Bocaccio Basso) make
an attempt at representing Italian everyday life. However,
despite the somewhat grotesque, cartoonish quality of
Daley's drawing, the prints lack satirical
edge so pervasive in Colescott's work. The artist is not
able to convincingly convey either the nature of her
Her prints present elegant, somewhat
post-impressionistic images of quiet streets and
squares, passages, nooks and corners, as well as
breezy Venetian waterways. Coarse and sensuous
aquatints enhanced with watercolor add to the
Signac-like luminosity of the pieces. Interestingly, the
public spaces the artist depicts are completely devoid of
human presence, ghostly as if they had been
abandoned long ago. They are also extremely elusive; it
is impossible to recognize where exactly we are, what
city we are in. Most of the characteristics of the specific
place are obscured by the play of light and shadow. This
is not Italy of the present, but Italy of the past, as we
remember it from old books, postcards and travel
souvenirs.
Daley's work is much more narrative in spirit and is
reminiscent of both Picasso and Wisconsin intaglio
master, Warrington Colescott. Many of her
compositions, like the hand-colored La Celebrazione
Italiana, are crowded with dense collages of famous,
iconic architectural and sculptural elements, as well as
with images of saints and mythological figures made
immortal by Italy's temples, churches and museums.
They look as if all the tokens and memorabilia of an
Italian journey were condensed into one.
Daley's other pieces (such as Traveling with My Friends,
The Flower Vendor, Lower Via Bocaccio Basso) make
an attempt at representing Italian everyday life. However,
despite the somewhat grotesque, cartoonish quality of
Daley's drawing, the prints lack satirical
edge so pervasive in Colescott's work. The artist is not
able to convincingly convey either the nature of her
| Janet Baumler, Old Bridge |
| Joeann Daley, Mardi Gras |
| Copyright Art History Chicks, 2006. Contact Us |
characters, or her own attitude toward them. Her subjects seem devoid of vigor and liveliness, they could be
almost anybody, any place, any time. An example could be Traveling with my Friends filled with a non-descript
crowd lacking any national or personality traits. Who are “friends?” Are they Americans, Italians or multi-
nationals? It is impossible to guess just by looking at the print. The piece is craving a much more sardonic,
specific and humorous characterization.
What the show offers altogether is an idealized, nostalgic and utterly familiar image of Italy, as many want to
know it. The truth is though that Italy is much more that its glorious past, more than a collection of images from
an art history book. It is not only the world of antiquity and Renaissance, but also homeland of Futurists, Lucio
Fontana, Mario Merz and Maurizio Cattelan, to name just a few cutting edge artists of the last century. Italy is
also a complex contemporary society, grappling with a multitude of controversial socio-political issues and
struggling with its own cultural and religious tradition. Italians are famous for enjoying unbelievably bustling
streets and nightlife and, if one was to trust Komar and Melamid, are the only society in the world, which
prefers abstract over representational art. (Author’s note: Between 1994-97 artists Komar and Melamid
conducted a series of nationwide surveys examining aesthetic tastes and preferences in several both
industrialized and developing countries around the world.)
It is disappointing that all these ongoing phenomena, which might not be familiar to those who have not visited
Italy or do not follow current events, are purged from both Baumler's and Daley's work. Instead of offering their
viewers insightful, insider images of contemporary Italian landscape, both artists limit their observations to
impressions of tourists. Even the amount of time necessary to develop their etching plates does not force them
to look beyond skin deep. Their prints are technically competent, visually pleasing and reassuring, but they fail
to provide us with images of real Italian scenes and a real Italian life.
- Dorota Biczel Nelson
Biczel Nelson is a Polish artist residing in Milwaukee. Her own work is a hybrid of printmaking, painting,
drawing and installation. She teaches printmaking at UW-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design,
and is also owner of an independent print shop, Bunker Press.
Comments? Email the writer at comments@susceptibletoimages.com
almost anybody, any place, any time. An example could be Traveling with my Friends filled with a non-descript
crowd lacking any national or personality traits. Who are “friends?” Are they Americans, Italians or multi-
nationals? It is impossible to guess just by looking at the print. The piece is craving a much more sardonic,
specific and humorous characterization.
What the show offers altogether is an idealized, nostalgic and utterly familiar image of Italy, as many want to
know it. The truth is though that Italy is much more that its glorious past, more than a collection of images from
an art history book. It is not only the world of antiquity and Renaissance, but also homeland of Futurists, Lucio
Fontana, Mario Merz and Maurizio Cattelan, to name just a few cutting edge artists of the last century. Italy is
also a complex contemporary society, grappling with a multitude of controversial socio-political issues and
struggling with its own cultural and religious tradition. Italians are famous for enjoying unbelievably bustling
streets and nightlife and, if one was to trust Komar and Melamid, are the only society in the world, which
prefers abstract over representational art. (Author’s note: Between 1994-97 artists Komar and Melamid
conducted a series of nationwide surveys examining aesthetic tastes and preferences in several both
industrialized and developing countries around the world.)
It is disappointing that all these ongoing phenomena, which might not be familiar to those who have not visited
Italy or do not follow current events, are purged from both Baumler's and Daley's work. Instead of offering their
viewers insightful, insider images of contemporary Italian landscape, both artists limit their observations to
impressions of tourists. Even the amount of time necessary to develop their etching plates does not force them
to look beyond skin deep. Their prints are technically competent, visually pleasing and reassuring, but they fail
to provide us with images of real Italian scenes and a real Italian life.
- Dorota Biczel Nelson
Biczel Nelson is a Polish artist residing in Milwaukee. Her own work is a hybrid of printmaking, painting,
drawing and installation. She teaches printmaking at UW-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design,
and is also owner of an independent print shop, Bunker Press.
Comments? Email the writer at comments@susceptibletoimages.com
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