Debra Brehmer, a Milwaukee artist, art historian, and gallery director came to lawrence yesterday to give a talk on Milwaukee Painter Bernard Gilardi. During Debra's visit, she also took time out of her schedule to do art critiques with myself and some other art students. I found Debra's talk about Bernard Gilardi really interesting, I thought she did a really nice job of describing the work and really engaging with the audience so we shared in her excitement of finding this major collection of work from a never recognized deceased painter. I also thought the work itself was fascinating! All the works had such loaded imagery and were creatively put together with a corky but intellectual sense of humor. All the religious paintings were especially fascinating, but it was nice to see in the lecture some of his other work to see how his humor and style was a common thread.
Another major aspect of her visit I really enjoyed was when she took time with me to do an art critique of my work for my senior show (May, 2012). I had about 12 prints I showed her with an artist statement and her comments and suggestions were very encouraging and enlightening. For instance, she said that my concept and this body of work could really go somewhere and she thought I was using the nude figure in the landscape in a new way that was worth exploring. She found the more abstract images more interesting and powerful- which I agree with her about. She also said she really liked the water, meadow, and woods combination, and could be a strong triptic. She said my work reminded her of the artists "Eiko and Koma". I looked them up after the critique and they are modern dance performance artists. They are well know for their "dance dramas" which just includes the two of them in the performances. Their performances seem very primitive and raw to me. I like it, I think i'm going to look farther into their works.
If you're interested in seeing one of their performances, here it is!
If your interested in seeing Debra's portrait gallery here's the link. seems really cool, I definitely want to visit!
http://portraitsocietygallery.wordpress.com/
I was sad to have missed her discussion of Gilardi's work! From what you had to say, it was an amazing lecture. I also really appreciated Deb making herself so available to us students! She had very constructive comments for the work I showed her as well. I hope she lets us know when she's done renovating her gallery space so we can all visit her!
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Debra was an extremely approachable and friendly person to talk to! I am glad she helped you out so much and has motivated you to continue with your work and explore more ideas.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing your work from last term, and the video of "Eiko and Koma" does remind me of your photographs! The nudity, nature and the rawness of the performance all seem very similar to the type of features that your work exhibits. I would certainly look more into their performances, to get more ideas for your own work in the future!
Getting feedback from varied sources sometimes helps to define the work. That is if it doesn't cause confusion and insecurity!
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