In a showing that includes everything, including a kitchen sink, the UW-Madison Department of Art Quadrennial Exhibition, Feb. 8 to April 6, reveals the diverse styles and innovations of UW-Madison faculty and emeritus professors.
The Elvehjem Museum of Art, established in 1970, held the first Quadrennial Exhibition in 1974. Since then, the museum has held a large-scale exposition of faculty and emeritus artwork every four years. The show creates a venue to showcase their latest artwork and experimentation without limitations on subject matter or material.
\We do not curate the show,"" Patricia Powell, publications editor for the Elvehjem Museum, said. ""It's all left up to the faculty members. They are given space parameters and the artwork has to be recent to the latest show. We're very passive.""
The pieces found in the exhibition include an interactive game by new faculty member John Hitchcock. Using Nerf balls, screen-printed paper bags and 50 wooden chickens, Hitchcock exposes the issue of consumption in North America.
At the other end of the spectrum is a photography project pairing black-and-white images of depression-era New Mexico with contemporary photographs, taken by UW-Madison Professor Cavalliere Ketchum with the assistance of several graduate students, of the same people and area.
Returning contributor Carol Pylant, who at the last exhibition showed a series of paintings of stone monuments, continues to explore her interest in the link between pagan and Christian imagery with a triptych. It consists of a trompe l'oeil painting of a nude woman surrounded by two panels featuring rough paintings of saints and angels, inspired by fresco paintings in the Church of Saint Miquel Marmellar in Barcelona, Spain.
Since its beginning in 1974, artists featuring work in the exhibition have incorporated new innovations in technique and content.
""People are working more large-scale,"" said Steve Johanowicz, prepator, who has worked on three Quadrennial Exhibitions. ""This is the first time we have a large-scale video.""
Other substantial pieces include a barn and a meditative pathway through hanging fabric.
Another change since the beginning of the exhibition is the importance of computers in art, both in computer-related design projects and in the more traditional media.
""Computer-assisted artwork really became prominent at the end of the '80s,"" Powell said. ""By the '90s more and more people had taken it up. But what you don't see is a lot of artists use it in design.""
This year's tribute to the diverse range of fields and talents at the UW-Madison art department will be on display through April.
The museum will hold a preview and reception for the exhibition today from 6 to 8 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
