"Brad Kahlhamer: Almost American"
2000-12-03 until 2001-02-11
Madison Art Center
Madison, WI, USA United States of America

Brad Kahlhamer: Almost American premieres at the Madison Art Center December 3, 2000 through February 11, 2001. The artist's first solo museum exhibition features eight large-scale color-saturated paintings, several drawings and a sculpture installation. Kahlhamer's Midwest debut includes a new suite of drawings created in response to historical sites in Wisconsin visited during a fall residency. The artist describes his art as a third place, an imaginary zone that fuses the past and present, the dreamt and real of his first place of Native American ethnicity and his second place of a conventional middle-class upbringing. From his unique perspective, he seeks to understand the social position of Native Americans in the mainstream culture of the United States.

Kahlhamer paints monumental images of grand American landscapes. Challenging this tradition of realism with powerfully loose brushstrokes and high-keyed colors, he conjures up the visionary tradition of Native American art. At the same time, his work recalls the street-inspired work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the vibrant color of German expressionists like Emil Nolde.

Central to Kahlhamer's work is his compelling biography. Born in Tucson, Arizona in 1956, he was put up for adoption, an experience shared by many American Indian children of his generation. Adopted by a German-American family, he grew up without knowledge of his tribal affiliation. His art centers on his displaced Native American identity filtered through his experience as a member of a middle-class white family. After earning a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1980, Kahlhamer toured with a rock band and designed product packaging for Topps Chewing Gum-life experiences which continue to inform his work. Popular culture references and a recurring cast of characters, surrogates for the artist and those close to him, populate the expressionistic landscapes, relating narratives that join personal experiences and Native American history.

Brad Kahlhamer: Almost American is co-organized by the Aspen Art Museum and the Madison Art Center. Major funding for the project and its Madison presentation was provided by a grant from the Ameritech Foundation; a grant from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission with additional funds from the Madison Community Foundation and the Overture Foundation; The Art League of the Madison Art Center; the Exhibition Initiative Fund; the Madison Art Center's 2000-2001 Sustaining Benefactors; and a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin. The Aspen Art Museum presentation is sponsored by the AAM National Council, with additional support provided by Nancy and Robert Magoon.

IMAGE:
Brad Kahlhamer Happy Girls w/ Eggs USA, 2000
oil on canvas
94 x 120 inches
Private Collection, London
Photo courtesy Deitch Projects, New York

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Wisconsin

Other Important Exhibitions in United States