Claudia Wieser
Generations

Mar 19th – Aug 19th, 2020
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha

Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces
Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces
Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces
Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces
Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces
Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces
Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces
Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces
Copyright the artist; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha; Photo Colin Conces

Claudia Wieser: Genrations

Referencing the history of space and form through architecture, design, and imagery, Claudia Wieser considers the coexistence of abstraction and the physiological experience through her spatial installations. With a nod to Modernist geometric constructions inspired by the Bauhaus and influenced by spirituality within an artistic practice like artists Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee before her, Generations will encompass Wieser’s distinctive, multi-faceted practice. This will include hand-painted and patterned ceramics, carved wooden sculptures, tiled mirrored sculptures, fine colored pencil and gold leaf drawings, and large and small plinths that act as both sculptures for display and sculptures themselves. Wieser will create a new wallpaper for the exhibition undulating with imagery of historic sculpture and architecture, as well as imagery from both popular culture and the lesser-known avant-garde. Collaged together from her vast archive, the combination of textures, surfaces, and spliced imagery allows the viewer to create new histories, and in turn, see themselves both within that history and adding to it.

Wieser approaches art-making through combining geometric abstraction and found images, asking her viewers to look at ourselves looking, and what that means in the self-reflexive time in which we currently live. Through spending time with the work, Wieser’s interest in narrative emerges as she “attempts to find forms and arrangements which narrate more than concrete material and forms you can see.”1 The artist uses abstraction not only as a process tool but as a conceptual one as well. By stitching a constellation of elements together through kaleidoscopic forms, Wieser aims to change the visual interpretation of the viewer and give them a vastly new experience.

Claudia Wieser: Generations is co-curated by Rachel Adams, Bemis Chief Curator and Director of Programs and Jennifer Carty, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Smart Museum of Art.

Claudia Wieser: Generations is organized by Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.

Sponsored, in part, by Douglas County, Nebraska; The Goethe-Institut; Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment; Omaha Steaks; and Streck.

About Claudia Wieser

Claudia Wieser is a Berlin-based artist who creates drawings, sculptures, wall installations and tapestries based on the principle of geometric abstraction.

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