Exhibitions by Contemporary Artists

Contemporary artists interrogate vital themes like identity, family, memory, activism, and representation in their work. These exhibitions often connect directly with curricular and co-curricular concerns across campus. 

A visual archive of past exhibitions is available on Flickr

See installation views of exhibitions in the Wriston Art Galleries from 2012 to the present.

View Past Exhibitions on Flickr

Alexandra Bell: Counternarratives

Hoffmaster Gallery

Multidisciplinary artist Alexandra Bell will give a Convocation in winter 2022. In conjunction with her campus visit, select works from her Counternarratives series on disrupting media bias will be on view. In this series, Bell edits New York Times articles, altering headlines, changing images, and redacting text to reveal oppressive patterns in news reportage and society at large. (Winter 2022)

Three New York Times front pages, two with annotations and edits, pasted on a grey cinderblock wall
Alexandra Bell, A Teenager With Promise (Annotated), 2017, wheatpaste mural

Beauty and Terror, Compassion and Despair: The Collages of Miriam Beerman

Miriam Beerman is a prolific American artist whose work reveals her deep emotional responsiveness to the tragedies of the human experience, both historical and modern. The collage work highlights her sympathetic preoccupation with injustice and tragedy through the visual expression of strong emotions, as well as her quick intellect, her erudition, her sense of humor, and, importantly, her intuitive, spontaneous artistic process. (Fall 2015)

Irregular scraps of paper and fabric in shades of brown, pink, and purple in an abstract composition with the word "Vous Vivez" written above in pencil
Miriam Beerman, Vous Vivez, 1982, burlap, oil, pastels and paper

An Unnamed Need: Pattern and Beauty in Contemporary Art

Over the past ten years, a growing number of artists have been creating works of unabashed beauty, a marked reversal from the denigration of beauty often evident in previous decades. Many of these artists pursue beauty through patterns and abstract designs.

An Unnamed Need: Pattern and Beauty in Contemporary Art brings together 5 nationally recognized artists who explore the ways in which pattern, beauty, and craft intersect: Anila Quayyum Agha, Jennifer Angus, Michelle Grabner, Heather McGill, and Tony Orrico. Together, they highlight the many forms that beauty can take, but also point towards complex cultural themes such as ethnic identity, gender, and humans’ relationship with the natural world. These are works that challenge the mind as they delight the eye. Curated by LU Professors Rob Neilson (studio art) & Ben Tilghman (art history). (Winter 2016)

Large, colorful insects arranged on a wall in geometric patterns to mimic wallpaper
Jennifer Angus, Arabesque (detail), 2015, Kallima inachus, Heteropteryx dilatata, Tosena albata, Attacus atlas, various stag beetles

Patrick Earl Hammie, Aureole

Patrick Earl Hammie’s artist statement: “From how we view black bodies as dangerous, virile, and exotic, to how we judge and objectify women based on aesthetics, to how we encounter difference, all are informed by art’s history and visual culture. We have learned to form meaning and value around people and their bodies in part though the images we consume and the narratives we inherit.

My work is defined by its ongoing engagement with the history of painting. In part my interest is historical: I study the pictorial, technical, and narrative conventions of Western art to explore the ways primarily male artists have imagined the body. Considering such conventions in a contemporary context, I deliver fresh ideals of men and women that both disturb the existing canon and normalize their presence in public art space and discourse.” (Fall 2017)

Drawing of two figures, one leans far back while the the other bends over to support them awkwardly with an arm under their back
Patrick Earl Hammie, Deposit, 2015, oil on paper

thaum koj tshwm sim / when you were made: Tshab Her & Victoria Kue

Tshab Her and Victoria Kue are emerging Hmong-American artists whose work addresses the complexities of being second-generation women members of this nationless ethnic minority. Through installation, sculpture, textile, video, and social-practice based pieces, they navigate the politics of displacement, as well as the impact of gendered social roles and traditions. This exhibition was curated by Kate Mothes, founder of Young Space, and funded in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council, with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Bright Idea Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. (Winter 2019)

Left side: four white arrow signs on a pole that say "You Are A Joke" against a grey field. Right: a horizontal band of bright colors and patterns that appear to turn toward the viewer
Left: Victoria Kue, Guidance, 2017, acrylic Right: Tshab Her, Reclaiming Existence, 2016, vinyl

Tyanna Buie, Irrational in Light of Danger

Tyanna Buie’s artist statement: “Signifiers, such as family photographs and familial objects, can elicit a residual emotional response. This exhibition explores a narrative sourced from specific moments throughout my adolescence as I carefully navigated through various accounts of childhood trauma.

Unaware of impending dangers and long-term effects of the abuse and mistreatment I witnessed and experienced at a young age, I now continue to unearth mutual histories within my family and explore past indiscretions. As I find connections passed down from one generation to the next, I can gain a deeper understanding of where we started, and where we need to be as individuals and family members.” (Spring 2017)

Artwork featuring a seated woman holding a large gold flower on the left and a side table with lamp and plant on the right. The woman and table are connected with a silver cord.
Tyanna Buie, The Family Matriarch, 2016, screen-print, hand applied ink, stainless steel on paper