Tory Folliard Gallery | 1/30-3/20 | Milwaukee, WI

Wallflowers

The exhibition Wallflowers offers a contemporary twist to still life paintings.

Still life is one of the most classic art genres, with many immediately thinking of images of flowers and fruit at the edge of a tableau. Many artists of today rely on the techniques of the Old Masters in arranging their compositions, but have a contemporary take through their subject matter and styles. The exhibition Wallflowers at Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee shines a light on these modern-day images.

Gallery director Tory Folliard elaborates, “Wallflowers, a contemporary spin on this timeless theme, explores how our region’s top artists interpret this subject, as each artist’s styles are as unique and personal as their intent. The exhibition includes paintings, works on paper, photography and sculpture.”Jeffrey Ripple, Black Plums, oil on panel, 12 x 12"

Aniela Sobieski, The Brown Bird’s Song, oil on linen, 8 x 10"

Included in the exhibition is Jeffrey Ripple’s highly detailed work Black Plums. “When my black hollyhocks bloomed this past summer, I was looking for a way to include one in a painting,” he explains. “The flower with those dark, dusty plums felt like a pairing through which I could continue exploring the interplay of light and shade in a way that might suggest a summer afternoon.”

Les Souris Morte, by T.L. Solien, is part of a larger body of work that addresses personal and sociopolitical crises. “What appears to be an ebullient bouquet of stylized flowers, subversively contains the remains of a dead mouse,” the artist says. “The presence of the dead mouse is meant to imply a kind of tragic inevitability, denying the possibility of a fully positive outcome.”T.L. Solien, Le Souris Morte, acrylic, oil and enamel on canvas, 28 x 22½"

John Wilde (1919-2006), Untitled (Still Life with Playbill, Vase, Shell, and Dead Bird), ca. 1940-42, mixed media on Masonite, 21 x 32½" (framed)

In the work The Brown Bird’s Song, Aniela Sobieski depicts flowers that were blooming in her garden this past fall. “When creating this piece, I was interested in drawing a parallel between the flowers’ transient blooms and the flitting presence of a songbird. I used the color brown prominently, not only as a visual foil to the brightness of the flowers, but [also] as a symbol of the earth to which the bird and flowers are both destined to return at the end of their lives,” she says. “It is my hope that this painting speaks to the interconnectedness of the natural world and the imperfect human impulse to capture that which is fleeting.”

Wallflowers will be on view from January 30 through March 20. —

Tory Folliard Gallery 233 N. Milwaukee Street • Milwaukee, WI 53202 • (414) 273-7311 • www.toryfolliard.com