2023 EXHIBITIONS
JILL SEBASTIAN
EARLY WORK
RECENT WORK
April 8 - June 11
At Var Gallery on 5th
Var Gallery is pleased to present "Early Work, Recent Work" by Jill Sebastian.
Jill Sebastian’s work prods the disquiet of living. She asks, what are the comfortable lies we tell ourselves about how the world is structured? Through fragmentation, Sebastian creates metaphors that meld pressing social concerns with autobiographical experiences by pulling apart and reconstructing common objects and places as off-kilter.
In her first exhibition at Var, Early Work, Recent Work, the artist shares her reflections on how some themes and approaches reappeared throughout her 40-year career. She states, “ Over the years, my preoccupations have matured from the immediacy of exploring my individual psyche to seek a footing in the issues of my time.” Represented in this exhibition are works from several series focusing on relationships between nature and culture, material and language, through war, childhood suicide, and environmental crisis.
Jill Sebastian grew up in steel towns of the Midwest rust belt which has formed her as an artist. Her sculpture, drawings and installations have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States and internationally (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Tele Aviv, Amsterdam and more). Sebastian’s public art includes: a musical fence in New Orleans; an architecturally integrated literary project for the Milwaukee Convention Center (with Woodland Pattern Book Center); a streetscape (with Ken Saiki Design) for Madison, WI; and a mosaic for the Genome Center at UW-Madison. Her concerns with community participation and subliminal choreography underlying all her public work is expressed in the site-specific sculptural pocket park she developed among five baseball fields in Wick Park, Milwaukee. Sebastian has collaborated with Deb Loewen, Wild Space Dance Company to create a site-specific installation and hour-long multi media work, Art of the Ordinary, at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Other collaborators include composers Burt Levy and Josh Schmidt, writers John Koethe and Jon Erickson and filmmaker Jake Fuller. Among her awards are a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship 1985, City of Milwaukee Artist of the Year 1997 and Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award 2016. Jill Sebastian is a Professor Emerita at Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.
NYKOLI KOSLOW
QUEER COSMOLOGY:
THE MAKING OF A UNIVERSE
June 9 - July 30
At Var Gallery on 2nd
"Queer Cosmology: The Making of a Universe" is an exhibition that explores the re-imagining of religion, myth, and physics through world building. In the face of rising Christian nationalism and its harmful effects on the queer community, this exhibition looks at the ways in which the creation of new universes can serve as a tool for reflection, critique, and imagination. The show is divided into four parts: drawings, paintings, virtual reality, and the "brainstorm" aspect.
The abstract networks of layered lines, dots, and dashes in the drawings represent the "physics" of the universe, loosely inspired by string theory and quantum physics with a sci-fi twist. The movements of these lines are based on the word "queer" and its etymology, embodying the essence of bending, twisting, inverting, and perverting. The drawings, both on a micro and macro scale, act as the invisible force behind the visible world, and highlight the relationships between distant and close parts.
The paintings in the second part of the exhibition depict the gods, deities, elementals, spirits, cryptids, animals, and beings that inhabit the world, often inspired by Nykoli’s revised, reimagined, and colorful version of biblical myth and associated folklore. These beings have raw and authentic identities, connected to all that surrounds them, and serve as empowered versions of themselves, rewriting their stories for the benefit of queer and marginalized communities.
The virtual reality realms in the third part of the exhibition serve as the environment for these entities, bringing an atmospheric element to the exhibition and giving form to the elements of the drawings and paintings.
Finally, the "brainstorm" aspect, the fourth part of the show, features the sketches, writings, mock-ups, and thoughts that go into the creation of the larger works in the exhibition, as well as those yet to be made. This aspect highlights the process of piecing together the elements to create a story that incorporates a kinkier, stranger, alien, and gayer biblical mythos.
Overall, "Queer Cosmology: The Making of a Universe" demonstrates the power of world building as a means of activism and empowerment for queer people and all those "othered" during the rise of Christian nationalism. It invites viewers to explore new ways of understanding their connection to themselves, each other, and their environment through the creation of a new universe.
Nykoli Koslow is a visual artist working in the realm of painting, drawing, installation and VR. Fusing abstraction with figuration, Nykoli anchors the innate trans* experience into a queer mythic cosmology. Personal experience, reinterpretations of familial cultural histories, mythology,
religion, mysticism, and sci-fi spill into his re-imagined worlds.
Nykoli Koslow graduated from University of Milwaukee-Peck School of the Arts in 2013 with an emphasis in painting and drawing, minoring in English. Since graduating, Nykoli has exhibited in and around Milwaukee including Wilson Center, Emerging Artist Exhibition. Var Gallery's, 30x30x30 exhibition. The Union Art Gallery, Translucent: A Transgender Empowerment Exhibition. And KSE Gallery for Kay Knight Continuum (2018) & Leslie Vansens Sitelines 42 (2022). Nykoli was commissioned to do a mural for Swanson Elementary in Brookfield WI, 2017 and was selected by Wallpapered City (sponsored by Trip Savvy New York) to create a mural for the NoMADmke Wauwatosa Mural Corridor in 2019. Nykoli was the Pfister Artist In Residence for the year 2021-2022. Nykoli recently completed a solo show at The Gallery Space in Saint Kate, Milwaukee WI, 2022.
BRIAN SCHNEIDER
this / that / the other thing
Feb 10 - April 9
At Var Gallery on 2nd
this / that / the other thing consists of new multi-media works that serve as a vehicle for humor and release from the present reality. Schneider shares, “Humor can dampen painful experiences. Nostalgia and humor also allow a person to let their guard down, allowing for harder to digest ideas to get through. It can draw someone in and allow nuance to be seen where it may otherwise be overlooked. My work often depicts violence or gore, a call back to childhood and Saturday morning cartoons or metaphor for internal suffering.”
Schneider’s works are striking both for their bold imagery and intensive construction. Each work is built as a custom panel of various shapes. He then cuts, paints, and stains individual pieces of wood to fit within these panels, in order to create objects and patterns. Paint, pencil or stickers are applied to the top of or inside the shaped panels in order to depict curious moments, odd objects, or to deface the original piece. In Scheider’s words, “I see these pieces as painting surfaces and, also, as wall hanging sculptures.”
Brian Schneider is a multi-disciplinary artist from Greenfield, Wisconsin. He received his BFA in 2014 from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Schneider works in drawing, painting, photography, mixed media sculpture and digital.
Recent solo and group exhibitions include Structuring Bodies, Structuring Places (Var Gallery), Lost and Found (Riverwest Jazz Gallery), Figure Exhibition (Var Gallery), Gristle Art Gallery (Real Tinsel). His work has been collected by Pfister Hotel and Saint Kate Arts Hotel. This is his second solo exhibition at Var Gallery.
DAVID NAJIB KASIR
Neighborhoods in Subtraction
June 9 - Aug 6
At Var Gallery on 5th
Var Gallery is pleased to announce “Neighborhoods in Subtraction”, a solo exhibition of new works from David Najib Kasir at Var’s 5th Street location. The exhibition opens Saturday, June 17th, 2023. This is the artist’s second exhibition at Var Gallery, and first solo exhibition as a represented artist.
"Neighborhoods in Subtraction" is an exhibition that interrogates the role Western media plays in constructing cultural narratives, while centering a caring and concerning lens on the destruction of Syria and its people through large-scale paintings.
For Kasir, the works start from a personal place. “Iraq is my father’s country, and Syria is my mother’s as well as the second home of my youth. It is where my aunts, uncles and cousins are still living. It is where there are buildings where I slept in and streets where I played tag and other games as a child. I’ve witnessed years of destruction of my countries from US invasion, with very little regard from Western mainstream media to civilian casualties.”
This personal experience fueled Kasir’s anger and frustration, and gives way to large-scale paintings that place the viewer in the center of the neighborhood experiencing destruction. The viewer is confronted with encounters between civilians and soldiers, families embracing each other as they look on at the fallen buildings and rubble.
Making visible what happens to civilians is the intent of “Neighborhoods in Subtraction” and is placed in the larger context of cultural significance through the use of Arab design elements. As Kasir explains, “I entrap the Syrian landscapes in Arab mosaic patterns, not as a backdrop, but as a culture of people trying to hold up their structured environment as best as they can with little to no help from others.”
“Neighborhoods in Subtraction" questions how much devastation can be endured before the Western media starts to care. Kasir shares “I worked to create an awareness and concern of wars and families who have lived in lands of conflict that have terrorized their lives for years. A country that has been ravaged by Soviet bombings and attacks but is not getting the media attention, care and humanity that a dominantly white country would receive. Through these works, I create an environment that invites viewers to stand in the middle of a neighborhood that once housed families. A neighborhood that no longer looks like the streets I played in as a child.”
David Najib Kasir, a Milwaukee-based painter whose work is comprised of personal narratives and cultural history or events. In recent years, Kasir's work draws on stories from his parents’ journey to the U.S. and the current crisis from where they migrated (his mother migrated from Syria, and his father, Iraq). As an artist born here, Kasir reveals his cultural identity in paint and designs to inform viewers on the recent wars in Syria, in hopes of helping them develop an understanding of the millions of voiceless Arabs now living in chaos and disarray.
By using beautiful traditional Arab designs called Zellige to dress the figures in his work, Kasir shows the beauty of a culture and the tragedy as families try to hold on to it and each other as everything around them falls apart.
Kasir has a BFA in painting from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (2001) and is the proud father of two young adult daughters (one being an artist themselves).
THE ART DEPARTMENT
A GROUP EXHIBITION
August 5 - Sept 24
At Var Gallery on 2nd
Var Gallery is pleased to announce “The Art Department”, a group exhibition featuring work from artists who live in the borderlands of the art world and K-12 art education at Var Gallery’s 2nd Street location.
Exhibiting Artists:
Paula Bausch, Chris Behrs, Jeanne Bjork, Jeanne Bril, Deborah Brooks, Judy Grochowski, Frank Juarez, Pamela Merkel, Allison Olsen, Leah Robertson, Tanner Teipel, and Jason Van Roo.
The breadth of work ranges from traditional to experiential, exposing influences from inner and outer worlds. It reflects how these artist-educators translate concepts, processes and aesthetics from the past and present into the future by conveying them from their experienced eyes to novel ones. Stepping into this exhibit immerses the viewer in an environment curated daily that enables everyone to engage in the power of images, stories, symbols, objects and spaces that enshrine time and culture. These works grasp all nuances and vagaries found in the minds and practices that tend fertile ground for creative work on its own terms, while living the wonderment that allows young artists to see beyond current horizons.
NICOLE WOODARD
BODY, SENSE
Aug 10 - Oct 1
At Var Gallery on 5th
Var Gallery is pleased to announce, “Body Sense”, a solo exhibition of new works by Nicole Woodard.
“Body, Sense” explores the relationship between portraiture and the human form. Woodard is motivated by her emotional struggles and confronting fundamental traumas in her life. Making is intuitive and helps to create part of herself in a tangible form.
The process-based works represent how our bodies and identities are in flux. Ceramic, figurative forms are layered with stains to expose nuances of the body. “The irregular surface shows the memory of my hand, where I work by pinching the clay. I build directionally with my mark, shaping significant features without alteration.” Pyrography is a technique employed in response to ceramic works. Using molten glass on paper, the artist slowly layers freehand strokes until she is satisfied with the image.
Nicole Rene Woodard is an artist living in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the University of Kansas, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Nicole was awarded the Foundation Residency at Belger Crane Yard Studios in Kansas City in 2021 and 2022. She has taught foundation and ceramic courses at Benedictine College and the University of Kansas. Nicole is exhibiting nationally and has completed short term residencies at the Hambidge Center and Penland School of Crafts. Nicole is currently the Pottery Technician at John Michael Kohler Art Center, where she supports residents in the Pottery at Kohler Co.
FOSTER OWEN ATKINSON
CREATURE FEATURE
October 7 - December 3
At Var Gallery on 5th
Var Gallery is pleased to present, “Creature Feature”, a solo exhibition of new works by Foster Owen Atkinson.
"Drawing heavily on my childhood obsessions, Dinosaurs, movie monsters, bugs, demons and all manner of creatures, this work comes from what I see as a primeval need to put faces on the various excitements and angsts of being. In the raw and elementary processes of deconstruction and reconstruction I feel like a kind of Dr. Frankenstein, chasing a spark of life in the object I’m working on so it in turn can spark something in me. Here I put the full range of my mad scientist whims on display, from the colossal and menacing to the cute and companionship-oriented. It all bubbles up from the same place."
Foster Owen Atkinson (born Nov. 1998) spent most of his time growing up in Norman and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, before moving to St. Louis to attend college at Webster University. He always pursued art but was able to grow in his practice rapidly during the COVID-19 ,pandemic. He works and maintains a studio space in St. Louis.
JOHN ALLEYNE
SUPER NATURAL
December 9 - February 17th
At Var Gallery on 5th
Var Gallery is pleased to announce “SUPER NATURAL”, a solo exhibition of new works from John Alleyne at Var’s 5th Street location. The exhibition opens Saturday, December 9th, 2023. This is the artist’s first exhibition at Var Gallery.
SUPER NATURAL is a collection of silkscreen and collage-based paintings. The exhibition title acts as a play on the word supernatural. The word super in this context is used to represent an enlightened state of being, while natural relates to Black hair that has not been chemically altered by straighteners or relaxers.
Employing an intuitive process of silkscreen mark-making with ghost print techniques, John Alleyne presents a world of figurative-abstraction that aesthetically transcends the laws of nature, while celebrating Black joy and otherworldly beauty. Other themes addressed in the exhibition include notions of belonging, healing, love, manhood, masculinity, and a desire for visibility. Individuals depicted in these works are identifiable by mere numbers, pointing to the broader subject of Black bodies being commodified, manipulated, and deified.
John Alleyne is an interdisciplinary artist from the island of Barbados, currently based in New Orleans, Louisiana. His paintings and monotype prints are rooted in an exploration of freedom, connecting his lived experience with an intuitive process of silkscreen mark-making. Alleyne looks for perfection in the imperfect. The untraditional use of unhinged silkscreens and squeegees are utilized as mark-making tools to create painterly gestures of figurative-abstraction. Within these gestures, Alleyne challenges notions of love, belonging, healing, beauty, manhood, and masculinity.