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August 20, 2013 - Portland, OR: Adams and Ollman is pleased to present an exhibition of photographs by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, along with collages by Felipe Jesus Consalvos and sculptural works by Paul Lee, on view from October 4–November 9, 2013. The exhibition at Adams and Ollman will be held in conjunction with a solo presentation of works by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein at Fleisher/Ollman in Philadelphia (October 10–December 7, 2013).
A baker by trade, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein created his entire body of work from his home in Milwaukee. Working in various media, he was remarkably prolific, and drew on an idiosyncratic range of interests, from non-Western art and architecture to girly magazine archetypes, theories of cosmic genesis, and current events. On view at Fleisher/Ollman will be a broad array of Von Bruenchenhein’s works, including signature ceramics, a selection of paintings of imaginary architecture, and rarely seen 35mm color slides featuring his wife and muse Marie. Adams and Ollman will present select photographs by Von Bruenchenhein, with Marie as their subject. Appearing in a variety of semi-erotic and glamorous poses, she is both adored and objectified.
Alongside Von Bruenchenhein's photographs at Adams and Ollman will be collages made by the self-taught Cuban-American artist, Felipe Jesus Consalvos. Consalvos was a cigar roller and incorporated tools of his trade–cigar box liners and wrappers–into each collage, along with all manner of appropriated materials including newspaper clippings, magazine advertisements and vintage photographs. Each work in the exhibition features satirical portraits of George Washington, whose face is collaged from one dollar bills. The works are comic, irreverent and address the very pressing issues of the 20th century, including questions of gender, race, American foreign policy, and popular culture.
Additionally, new sculptures by Paul Lee will be on view. These elegant assemblages present reflections on the body, intimacy and memory. Lee's use of found or discarded items, raw and everyday, simultaneously grapple with abstracting desire and contemplating the language possessed by objects.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was born in 1910 in Marinette, Wisconsin and died in 1983. He lived and worked in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His work is currently featured in the 2013 Venice Biennale, The Encyclopedic Palace (June 1–November 24, 2013) and was recently on view at the Hayward Gallery, London (2013), the American Folk Art Museum in New York, NY (2010), and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI (2007).
Born outside Havana in 1891, Felipe Jesus Consalvos was a Cuban-American artist who emigrated to Miami around 1920, eventually settling in New York and finally Philadelphia, where he died sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. Consalvos worked for much of his life as a cigar roller, and extrapolated the vernacular tradition of cigar band collage to a highly sophisticated practice. His entire body of work, approximately 750 surviving collages on paper, found photographs, musical instruments, furniture, and other unexpected surfaces, was discovered in 1980. The work has been exhibited in Among Messages and Magic: 100 Years of Collage and Assemblage in American Art at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI (2008–09) and in Carribean: Crossroads of the World at El Museo del Barrio in Harlem, NY (2012–13).
Paul Lee was born in London in 1974 and lives and works in New York. He attended St. Martins School of Art and the Winchester School of Art, earning his BFA in 1997. He was artist in residence at Chinati Foundation, Marfa, USA in 2007. Lee's work has been included in the recent exhibitions Absentee Landlord, curated by John Waters, Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN (2011-2012); Moon River, Stuart Shave/Modern Art (2011); Flaca / Tom Humphreys, Portikus in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany (2011); Eliminate, curated by John Waters, Alberta Merola Gallery in Provincetown, MA (2007); and The name of this show is not Gay Art Now, curated by Jack Pierson at Paul Kasmin in New York, NY (2006). Public collections include The Dallas Museum of Art, The Walker Art Center, RISD, and The Morgan Library.
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