Rockford Art Museum opened new exhibition Phyllis Bramson: In Praise of Folly – A Retrospective, 1985–2015 last month with a reception for the artist and a full house. Bramson, a Wisconsin native and School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumna and faculty member, returns to RAM Thursday, Nov. 19, to give a free lecture about her prolific body of work. In a recent review Wall Street Journal art critic Peter Plagens said Bramson “is something of a beloved artist in Chicago. It isn’t hard to understand why.”
Rockford Art Museum opened new exhibition Phyllis Bramson: In Praise of Folly – A Retrospective, 1985–2015 last month with a reception for the artist and a full house. Bramson, a Wisconsin native and School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumna and faculty member, returns to RAM Thursday, Nov. 19, to give a free lecture about her prolific body of work. In a recent review Wall Street Journal art critic Peter Plagens said Bramson “is something of a beloved artist in Chicago. It isn’t hard to understand why.”
Phyllis Bramson’s unique visual language has captivated the Chicago art scene for more than three decades. The work represented in this 30-year retrospective at Rockford Art Museum starts with the second phase of her impressive career. Incorporating strong female images that teeter on the edge of being suggestive, Bramson’s work is an alluring aphrodisiac that draws viewers into the fantastical world of seduction and sends them on flights of imagination. Integrating masterful collage with thin wisps of paint diversely spread across the canvas, her imagery is familiar—the subtle and not-so-subtle eroticism is painted and collaged in the land of innocence, fairytales and kitsch—but very much her own.
Bramson’s work is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Brooklyn Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Union League Club of Chicago, Rockford Art Museum, and many more. She is represented by Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago and Littlejohn Contemporary in New York. Learn more about the artist at phyllisbramson.com.
ARTIST LECTURE: PHYLLIS BRAMSON
THU, NOV 19, 7:30 PM
FREE ADMISSION
ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM
711 NORTH MAIN STREET, ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS
Phyllis Bramson: In Praise of Folly – A Retrospective, 1985–2015 remains on view through Jan. 31 at RAM. Organized by Rockford Art Museum and curated by RAM Curator Carrie Johnson, this exhibition and its related educational programming are sponsored by BMO Private Bank, and partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and by the Armer Ahlstrand Charitable Foundation. All education programs are sponsored in part by Women’s Art Board.
