All Past Exhibitions

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A Nifty Environment: Solo Exhibition by Skip Brea

March 7 - April 1, 2022
Skip Brea explores the Metaverse as he creates digital compositions that incorporate generative processes and coded algorithms. Using the Metaverse as a playground of possibilities and site of commentary, Brea is transforming narratives and mediums with contemporary innovations in image research and data analysis. Currently, Skip Brea is a Visiting Professor of Digital Media at DePauw University and is the recipient of numerous art prizes including The Dean Collection StArt Up Grant funded by Swizz Beatz & Alicia Keys.
Yesterday We Said Tomorrow: Painting and Sculpture by Lora Fosberg, Dan Oliver and Frank Trankina

August 29 - December 9, 2022
This exhibition presents the work of three artists who examine the ever-shifting landscape of reality. While each artist portrays the world around them in different ways, they all consider and explore the absurdity and surreality of our time. Dan Oliver and Frank Trankina are both directly inspired by prominent art movements such as Surrealism and the Chicago Imagists (specifically the work of Roger Brown, Ray Yoshida, Christina Ramberg), and others. Even though Lora Fosberg’s current textual art may not be as obviously rooted in visual representation as Oliver’s and Trankina’s, her use of humor, irony and personal narrative through the interplay of text and imagery reveals that she shares many of the same influences. Capturing the moment of "now", Fosberg’s work simultaneously evokes a sense of nostalgia in both the choice of texts and how they are represented. Nostalgia also runs through Trankina’s work. Employing kitsch figurines like actors in chromatically heightened stage-like tableaus, he creates scenes that seem playful and whimsical, yet upon further examination, are more narratively complex and unsettling. Inspired by Ray Yoshida, a mentor to many Chicago Imagists, and a collector of folk art and found objects, Trakina incorporates the sense of the absurd in his painted collection of odd-ball characters to create an almost silent graphic strip. Dan Oliver capitalizes upon the incorporation of the familiar in his use of archetypes from portraiture to architecture as he embeds these objects into dreamlike scenarios which often include floods and fire. This portrayal of a world on fire, or submerged in water asks the viewer to question what is stable, and what will survive these moments of change. Yesterday We Said Tomorrow is an exhibition that offers insight into the creative practices of three artists who shared the same formative experiences and influences, transformed that common foundation into separate and personalized directions, and continued to be aware of and inspired by one another throughout their careers. Artists Lora Fosberg, Dan Oliver, and Frank Trankina will be giving a presentation about their work on Monday, October 24th at 4:15 pm in the Peeler Auditorium.
The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold

August 29 - December 9, 2022
DePauw University is excited to host The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold, curated by Greg Foster-Rice and organized by the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. This exhibition highlights the work of Ralph Arnold, a Chicago-based artist, who explored the intersectional identities of being Black, gay, a Veteran, and an artist during the Civil Rights era. Combining found imagery from publications of the day and hard-edge abstraction, Arnold pushed the boundaries of the Black Art movement. The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold is part of Art Design Chicago, an exploration of Chicago’s art and design legacy, an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art with presenting partner The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art. The Many Hats of Ralph Arnold opens August 29 and will be on view until December 9, 2022. The exhibition also features a curatorial talk by Greg Foster-Rice, Associate Professor at Columbia College on September 26, 4:15 pm in the lower gallery. These songs are examples of music that influenced Ralph Arnold. The album covers for these songs are included in this exhibition. Wham Sweet Merri Dee
Abstract Traditions: Postwar Japanese Prints From The DePauw University Permanent Art Collection

August 29 - October 14, 2022
A pivotal moment in Japanese printmaking history, the artists associated with the modern print movement broke with centuries of rigid tradition and embraced the flexibility and spontaneous creativity afforded them by sketching, carving, and printing their own works. Previously, historic Japanese prints prior to the early 20thcentury relied upon a well-established workshop method in which artists, carvers, and printmakers each completed a specialized task in the printmaking process. This exhibition and the accompanying catalog feature, for the first time, 40 key abstract pieces from the DePauw University permanent art collection. Noted artists include: Iwami Reika, Onchi Koshiro, Sekino Junichiro, Shinoda Toko, and Yamaguchi Gen. Scholar and Associate Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University, Dr. Helen Nagata, will be giving a presentation about the history of post-war printing in Japan on Tuesday, October 4th at 4:15 pm in the Peeler Auditorium. This exhibition and the accompanying print catalog was made possible with generous support from: Arthur E. Klauser ’45 Asian & World Community Collections Endowment, DePauw University Asian Studies Program, DePauw University David T. Prosser Jr. ‘65 Dr. Leland D. Stoddard '40 Japan Foundation Office of Academic Affairs, DePauw University E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists

February 7 – May 9, 2022
Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists traces the extraordinary contributions of the female artists within the American Abstract Artists group, from the founders to today’s practicing members. Through fifty-four works, BlurringBoundaries explores the artists’ astounding range of styles, including their individual approaches to the guiding principles of abstraction: color, space, light, material, and process. Blurring Boundaries: The Women of American Abstract Artists, 1936-Present was organized by The Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, KY and the Ewing Gallery, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC
Many Pastorals

June 3 - June 26, 2022
The pastoral is an idea; a landscape that lives in the mind, in memory, and in the utopian impulse. The exhibition uses landscape as subject, frame, or referent to ruminate upon the urgent need to respond: to the observed universe, to the woods as we find them, and the walled gardens we build and live within. A dewdrop captures a passing cloud as effortlessly as a cat becomes a portal and a creek becomes a cosmic mirror. Although these works range widely in scale, tone and tenor, most of the paintings were made in one sitting.
Senior Art Exhibition

April 22 - May 21, 2022
An annual exhibition featuring the work of graduating senior studio art majors. The graduating seniors are Brian Antoine, Hannah Buchanan, Holly Buchanan, Anna Chinni, Abby Downs, Alyssa Luarde, Grace Miles, Abby Morrison, Emma Pizana, and Althea Jinzhi Qin.
Evidential Truths

Feb. 7-May 13, 2022
Evidential Truths confronts how ‘evidence’ and ‘truth’ have been appropriated to obfuscate our society’s understanding of the issues that threaten our democracy from gun control, public health, and equal rights. Working across media, Kretz deftly creates incredibly poignant work that unpacks our society’s obsession with conformity, power, and wealth. The work included in Evidential Truths spans two decades of work by Kretz demonstrating her ability to combine concept with materials and process infusing the work with powerful intensity.