On Friday, September 12, a “MAJOR” exhibit opened in Wabash College’s Erin Dean Gallery, located in the Fine Arts Center on the east side of campus. The exhibit kicked off with an opening reception from 4-7 p.m. with an artist talk at 4:15.
Mark Brosmer and Ryan Lane were among the first students to graduate from Wabash, in 1985, with an art major. Over the past forty years, both artists have cultivated distinct approaches to painting. In this two-person exhibition, fittingly titled “MAJOR,” their work explores the complexity of the everyday, the unseen, and the sublime.
Brosmer is a contemporary realist painter with a surrealist edge. His unique vision, subject matter, and technical prowess with a brush is unmistakable, with a signature style that is always evolving. The LA Times covering his show at the Brand Library said it was “big, bold, and surreal in an orderly way.”
Ryan Lane is a professional furnituremaker and painter. He has exhibited his furniture and paintings as a solo artist and in group shows in galleries across the country. In addition to his painting, he continues to be heavily involved in the woodworking industry working as a representative for Indiana Architectural Plywood, one of the preeminent custom veneer houses in the country.
In this exhibition, Brosmer and Lane invite you into a world where reality is not so easily defined. Their paintings challenge us to see what is normally overlooked, to question what is placed before us, and to embrace the playfulness and depth that lie hidden within the simplest of things.
Opening that same evening was “20th Century Indiana Art: A Private Collection of Midwestern Regional Paintings,” which features works from the collection of Dan Kraft, a 1985 Wabash graduate.
During the late 19th century and early 20th century, American artist moved away from European style influences. Multiple art colonies aided the development and appreciation for this new and unique American art form. Two Indiana-based groups of artists, the Hoosier Group and the Brown County Art Colony, played an important role in the Midwestern version of American Impressionism.
The Hoosier Group artists mainly received their academic training in Europe, returning to Indiana and dominating Indiana art through the 1920s. The Brown County Art Colony, a generation of artists homegrown or attracted to the alluring hills and folk of Brown County, heavily influenced Indiana art through the 1950s.
“20th Century Indiana Art: A Private Collection of Midwestern Regional Paintings” provides the viewer with fine examples of some of the leading artists of these two groups of Indiana artists of the 20th century. These works are on loan from the private collection of Dan Kraft '85.
“MAJOR” runs from September 12 through November 14. The Eric Dean Gallery is open Monday - Friday 9-5p.m. and Saturday 2-6 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.