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installation of framed fabric

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

platform with fabric patterns with framed pieces of fabric in the back wall

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

fabric patterns on a platform

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

video screen tucked in a corner

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

giant metal sculpture hanging from the ceiling

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

large mobile with random objects

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

installation view of several artworks

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

installation view of several artworks

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

installation view of one or several artworks

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

installation view of one artwork

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

installation view of several artworks

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

installation view of one artwork

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

installation view of three artworks

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

installation view of one artwork

 

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014 Installation view

 

pink, blue, and white gingham pattern

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Archival inkjet print 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

 

pedestal with several fabric patterns

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Paper weavings, pedestal 20 x 156 x 108 in. (50.8 x 396.2 x 274.3 cm)
 

 

yellow and pinkish purple gingham fabric

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Archival inkjet print 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

 

red, yellow, and white gingham fabric

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Archival inkjet print 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

 

yellow and pinkish purple gingham fabric

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Archival inkjet print 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)

 

giant hanging metal sculpture suspended over a pedestal with different fabric patterns

 

MICHELLE GRABNER AND BRAD KILLAM My Oyster, 2014 Wood, galvanized steel, silverpoint and gesso on panel, enamel on panel, cast concrete, photography, archival inkjet print, paper weaving, various fasteners and pedestal 130 x 130 x 96 in. (330.2 x 330.2 x 243.8 cm)
 

 

giant mobile with metal sculpture attached, a chair, a yellow table, and a family photo

 

MICHELLE GRABNER AND BRAD KILLAM My Oyster, 2014 Wood, galvanized steel, silverpoint and gesso on panel, enamel on panel, cast concrete, photography, archival inkjet print, paper weaving, various fasteners and pedestal 130 x 130 x 96 in. (330.2 x 330.2 x 243.8 cm)

 

enamel with a hole pattern that looks burnt in

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 20 x 16 x 7/8 in. (50.8 x 40.6 x 2.2 cm)

 

enamel with a hole pattern that looks burnt in

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on canvas over panel 20 x 16 x 7/8 in. (50.8 x 40.6 x 2.2 cm)
 

 

pattern that looks like knitted fabric

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 60 x 60 x 1 1/2 in. (152.4 x 152.4 x 3.8 cm)

 

close up of knitted fabric pattern which also has little holes that look burnt in

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled (detail), 2014 Enamel on panel 60 x 60 x 1 1/2 in. (152.4 x 152.4 x 3.8 cm)

 

rough fabric pattern

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 50 x 48 x 1 1/2 in. (127 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm)
 

 

fabric pattern made up of holes that look burnt in

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 50 x 48 x 1 1/2 in. (127 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm)

 

pattern of holes that look burnt in

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled (detail), 2014 Enamel on panel 60 x 60 x 1 1/2 in. (152.4 x 152.4 x 3.8 cm)

 

gingham fabric pattern made up of burnt-in holes

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 60 x 60 x 1 1/2 in. (152.4 x 152.4 x 3.8 cm)

 

enamel with a circular pattern with a yellow and orange tint

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 18 x 18 x 3/4 in. (45.7 x 45.7 x 1.9 cm)

 

close up of circular pattern with yellow and orange tint

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled (detail), 2014 Enamel on panel 18 x 18 x 3/4 in. (45.7 x 45.7 x 1.9 cm)

 

light yellow blots developing a pattern with a yellow and orange tint in the background

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 18 x 18 x 3/4 in. (45.7 x 45.7 x 1.9 cm)

 

close up of light yellow blots with an orange and yellow background

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled (detail), 2014 Enamel on panel 18 x 18 x 3/4 in. (45.7 x 45.7 x 1.9 cm)

 

fabric-like pattern

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 60 x 60 x 1 1/2 in. (152.4 x 152.4 x 3.8 cm)
 

 

close up of fabric like pattern made up of white blots with a yellow and orange tint in the background

 

MICHELLE GRABNER Untitled, 2014 Enamel on panel 60 x 60 x 1 1/2 in. (152.4 x 152.4 x 3.8 cm)

 

Press Release

Michelle Grabner -  - Exhibitions - James Cohan

MICHELLE GRABNER 2014, Installation View, James Cohan Gallery, New York

James Cohan Gallery is pleased to present the gallery’s debut exhibition with Michelle Grabner, opening on October 9th and running through November 15th, 2014. Grabner, a Chicago-based artist, is well known most recently for being one of three curators of the Whitney Biennial 2014. This gallery exhibition is the most comprehensive presentation of the artist’s work in New York to date.

 

With a career spanning over 30 years, Michelle Grabner has dedicated herself to identifying, indexing and transposing patterns. Her mother tongue is that of abstraction and her vocabulary comes from the domestic materials that are close at hand. Grabner came of age as a painter during the 1980s, an era of questioning and appropriation, but her use of tablecloths, bed linens and blankets was less about signifiers, a considerable corner of discourse in that era, and more about the impulse to copy. Pedagogical theory—ideas of making and remaking, inheriting knowledge and passing it on—grew in her practice alongside her work as a longtime art educator. When her son Peter returned home from kindergarten one day with a two-color paper weaving, Grabner decided to make her own. After 20 years, Grabner continues to make these weavings, which not only underscore her concepts about elemental compositions and process, but also seem to satisfy another impulse—productivity.

 

The exhibition features a survey of new work including pattern paintings, paper weavings, photographs, and a collaborative hanging sculpture made with her husband Brad Killam. Grabner employs found compositions such as radial symmetry, gingham weave, and simple warp-and-weft patterns using such straightforward materials as gesso, construction paper, burlap, garbage cans and kitchen implements. Referring to the restraint that runs throughout Grabner’s work, artist and colleague Molly Zuckerman-Hartung admires “her commitment to producing a body of work minimal enough to allow projection and profound enough to invite immersion.”

 

Propelled by an interest in collaboration and community, Grabner and Killam built these values into their practices by founding two project spaces: The Suburban, located in the backyard of their Oak Park, Illinois home, and its rural outpost, The Poor Farm in Waupaca County, Wisconsin. As a tenured professor at the Art Institute of Chicago, a seasoned curator, and a frequent contributor to Artforum and other publications, Grabner’s relationship to studio work is enriched by her participation in these many dimensions of the art world. 

 

Solo exhibitions include: Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, organized by David Norr (2014); INOVA, The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (2012); Yale University School of Art (2011); Ulrich Museum, Wichita (2008); and University Galleries, Illinois State University (2006). Grabner has been included in group exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Tate St. Ives, UK; and Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland. Her work is included in the permanent collection of Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; MoCA, Chicago; MUDAM, Luxembourg; Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin; Daimler Contemporary, Berlin; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Michelle Grabner (born 1962, Oshkosh, WI) lives and works in Oak Park, IL.

 

For press inquiries, please contact Jane Cohan at jane@jamescohan.com or 212-714-9500.

 

 

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