MARIA TOMASULA
All the Breath We Can Hold
MARIA TOMASULA All the Breath We Can Hold MARCH 3 – APRIL 7, 2018
F O R U M G A L L E RY NEW YORK
Maria Tomasula’s Art of Immanence B Y S O O Y. K A N G
F
or over two decades,
Maria Tomasula has bedazzled us with her mesmer-
izing paintings. Her recent creations are the products of arduous labor involving countless applications of miniscule paint marks that eventually disappear to
render a glossy surface of immaculate details. The play of intense colors and dramatic lighting that characterizes all her work aligns it with the contemporary Neo-Baroque aesthetic. Her recent works are even more in line with this trend, as her compositions are denser, as in All the Breath We can Hold, which reveals an intertwined floral arrangement so close to the picture plane that it leaves very little room for a backdrop. When there is a more extensive background, it is textured with a varied gradation of tones that makes it visually rich as well. Tomasula’s art, however, departs from the Neo-Baroque that celebrates instability and excess in one major aspect: her paintings are fully controlled and carefully constructed. Although imaginative in concept and unusual in the juxtaposition of natural and artificial elements, every inch of the paintings is based on thoughtful planning and deliberate execution. For instance, a triangular compositional shape that organizes and encloses all the elements is prominent in the recent works. The disparate elements are never haphazardly conjoined just to induce drama, but are precisely arranged to appeal to the inquisitive mind that seeks to unravel the meaning of the works. Tomasula points to her Catholic upbringing in East Chicago, Indiana as a wellspring of her art. She has spoken about her fascination with the colonial Baroque decorations in the Mexican Catholic churches she attended as a child. They were ornate, florid, colorful and even gory, standing out against the dark interior of the churches. Those effects are mimicked in her work. She also vividly remembers the idealized figures of saints, who were presented in scenes of horrific martyrdom that were abundant in those churches as well. This is the genesis of her flower still lifes, which, although beautiful in overall appearance, are actually revealed to be tortured upon close examination, as the pieces are strenuously tied, pulled and pierced by nails, hooks and strings,
the recurring instruments of affliction in Tomasula’s oeuvre. Although less conspicuous compared to her earlier works, the stress and strain on the flowers are still evident, relaying a transcendence also marked by earthly suffering. The reference to human form is made explicit by the doll parts as well as humanoid evocations, as in When I Knew You. Tomasula verifies the symbolic disposition of the items by affirming her use of “objects from the natural world – like bugs and flowers – as stand-ins for the human figure.” On the other hand, even without the allusion to saints, the objects have an aura of the wondrous, as they glow against a dark or evocative backdrop. The attentive treatment of the individual objects, rendering them shiny, immaculate, and tactile, imbues them with a sense of immanence. The focus on the natural is particularly significant to the artist who looks to Baruch Spinoza in reference to the subject. The seventeenth century philosopher drew fire for his controversial writings that essentially equated nature with God. More recently, the immanent sense in all creation has been espoused by Gilles Deleuze and the New Materialist thinkers, who refute the boundaries between assumed opposites, such as the spiritual and the physical. Such fusion and intra-action between the two are evident in Tomasula’s work where these realms collaborate intimately: embedded in the very material being of seemingly inanimate objects is a vibrancy that animates them with a kind of eternal force. Although Tomasula’s work features traditional oil panel painting techniques and evokes past art such as seventeenth century Dutch and Spanish still lifes, her work is thoroughly contemporary, engaged in current Neo-Baroque aesthetics and in the intellectual debates about material agency that permeate all fields of study in the twenty-first century. As such, Tomasula’s still life paintings definitely intrigue the eye, but also the mind.
Soo Y. Kang is Professor of Art History at Chicago State University. Her research interests are Modern and Contemporary religious art and women artists. She has published a number of articles and two books on Georges Rouault. She has also published papers on Dorothea Tanning and Paula Rego. Her essay titled “Embedded Still Lifes: Mexican American Heritage in the Art of Maria Tomasula” will be in the forthcoming issue of Journal of Contemporary Art; and another titled “Flowers Disguised: Women’s Voice through the Catholic Tradition in the Art of Maria Tomasula” will be published in the Religion and the Arts in Fall 2018.
Call Me By Your Name 2017 oil on panel 24 x 18 inches Private Collection, NY
Mothership 2017 oil on panel 20 x 16 inches
What the Water Gave ( for Frida) 2017 graphite on paper 22 x 16 inches
Star Eater 2017 oil on panel 20 x 16 inches
Private Collection, NY
When I Knew You 2017 oil on panel 24 x 18 inches
We Eat The Sun 2018 graphite on paper 22 x16 inches
Murmur 2016 oil on panel 20 x 16 inches
Private Collection of Gregory F. Holt, New Orleans, LA
Refrain 2017 oil on panel 24 x 18 inches Private Collection of Ms. Katie Norton, Portland, OR
Abode 2018 graphite on paper 22 x16 inches
Echo 2016 – 2018 oil on panel 20 x 16 inches
All the Breath We Can Hold 2016 – 2018 oil on panel 36 x 24 inches
Heritor 2018 graphite on paper 22 x16 inches
MARIA TOMASULA (b. 1958) E D U C AT I O N
1989 1987
Northwestern University, MFA, Graduate Fellowship University of Illinois at Chicago, BFA, Summa Cum Laude
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2018 All the Breath We Can Hold, Forum Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue) Saturation: New Paintings by Maria Tomasula, Brainard Gallery, Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL 2016 Everpresence, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 2012 Singularities, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 2008 Rapture, Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, IN Flow, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL Delirium, South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN 2006 Solo Exhibition, Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame, IN 2005 Meridian, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 2004 Vast, Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2003 Second Nature, Forum Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue) 2000 Accretion, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 1999 Corpus, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN 1998 Encanto, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL Recognitions, South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN 1997 Im/Mutable, Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL Convergence, Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame, IN 1995 Devotion and Dominion, Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL Art Chicago 1995, Marx-Saunders Gallery, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL Maria Tomasula, Vander Velde Gallery, Trinity College, Palos Heights, IL 1994 Desire and Devotion, Deson-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, IL 1991 New Work, Hamlet Gallery, Chicago, IL 1984 View from the West, InterContinental Gallery, Manama, Bahrain
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Artists by Artists: The Artist as Subject, Forum Gallery, New York, NY Drawn, Printworks Gallery, Chicago, IL 2017–18 Favorite Things: A Holiday Exhibition, Forum Gallery, New York, NY 2017 Seeing With Our Own Eyes, Forum Gallery, New York, NY Forum Gallery Celebrates 55 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art, Forum Gallery, New York, NY Radical Kingdoms, Mandeville Gallery, Union College, Schenectady, NY 2016 20/21 – Visionary Artists of the 21st Century, Forum Gallery, New York, NY 2015 Love: The First of the 7 Virtues, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY 2014 Wives, Daughters and Lovers, Forum Gallery, New York, NY Fleur Coupee, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Nuestras Historias: Stories of Mexican Identity, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL 2013 Singular Vision, Forum Gallery, New York, NY 2012 The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA Five Decades: Art and Artists of Forum Gallery 1962–2012, Forum Gallery, New York, NY Perception of Self, Forum Gallery, New York, NY 2011 Peace on Earth: Art Against War, Forum Gallery, New York, NY 2010 Contemporary Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture: A Summer Selection, Forum Gallery, New York, NY Sacred and Profane, Portsmouth Museum of Fine Arts, Portsmouth, NH 2009 Summer Selections, Forum Gallery, New York, NY 2008 Contemporary American Realism: 2008 Biennial, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN The Feminist Figure, Forum Gallery, New York, NY An Eye for Detail: Works by Selected Artists, Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2006 Transitional Objects: Contemporary Still Life, Neuberger Museum of Art, SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY Collective Imaginings: The Howard A. and Judith Tullman Collection, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL (catalogue) 2005 Poetas y Pintores, Taller Boricua, New York, NY: organized by the Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame 2004 Exquisite Snake, Printworks, Chicago Summer Love, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 2003 Larger than Life: Women Artists Making It Big, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA Precision, Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2002 Recent Acquisitions, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL New Works by Forum Gallery Artists, Forum Gallery, NY
2001 Of Dreams and Dreamers, Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, IL Obsessive Drawing, Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, DE 2000 The Object Considered, Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH (catalogue) Libidinal, Thomas Blackman Associates, Chicago, IL Self-portraits, Printworks Gallery, Chicago, IL Under the Influence, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL 1999 New Visions by Nine Contemporary Women, Forum Gallery, New York, NY WILDflowers, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (catalogue) Examination and Practice: Painting in the Late 20th Century, Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI Exquisite Corpse, Printworks, Chicago, IL New Acquisitions from the Permanent Collection, Warner Gallery, South Bend Museum of Art, IN Al Paso del Tiempo: Day of the Dead, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL 1998 Flora, Elise Goodheart Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY (catalogue) New Season, Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL Disposition: Replacing the Figure, Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL Millennium Art & Architecture, Graham Foundation, Chicago, IL On Your Mark, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL 1997 Out of Eden, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art & Design, Kansas City, Missouri (catalogue) The Chicago/Indiana Connection, Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, IN (catalogue) Natural Selection, Peter Mille Gallery, Chicago, IL 1996 (Un)Earthly Delights, State of Illinois Gallery, Chicago and Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL (catalogue) Toc, The Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts, Chicago, IL (multimedia performance) Accretion, Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL New Art Examiner Benefit Exhibition, SPACE Gallery, Chicago, IL 1995 Swell, Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL 1994 Timely and Timeless, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT (catalogue) Gravity and Grace, Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Arts, New Orleans, LA Contemporary Realists, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee, WI (Un)Real, Gibson Gallery, State University of New York at Potsdam, NY 1993 Selections, Artemesia Gallery, Chicago, IL The Dreamer Awakens, Deson-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, IL Parabolic Matter, Beacon Street Gallery, Chicago, IL 1992 Finesse, Deson-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, IL New Sensations, Deson-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, IL Land of 1,000 Dances, Deson-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, IL
1991 Home is Where the Art Is, N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, IL 1990 Domestic Realisms, C.A.G.E., Cincinnati, OH 1989 Exposicione Hispanica, Erie Street Gallery, Chicago, IL Reverse Angle, Transcultural Exchange, Chicago, IL and Kulturverein Transcult, Vienna Flesh Atlas, MoMing Gallery, Chicago IL Union League Club Exhibition, Union League Club, Chicago, IL and Prince Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
G R A N T S A N D AWA R D S
The Michael P. Grace Endowed Chair in Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame Howard Foundation Grant Sor Juana Award, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago Graduate Fellowship, Northwestern University, Department of Art Theory and Practice Andrew W. Mellon Preceptorship, Northwestern University Phi Kappa Phi Scholarly Project Grant (University of Illinois at Chicago Chapter)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Foumberg, Jason. “Tragic Abundance.” Newcity, June 2008. Goings On About Town – Art. “New Visions.” The New Yorker, August 23 & 30, 1999: Galleries-Uptown 30. Grisham, Esther. “Encanto: Contemporary Still Lifes by Maria Tomasula.” Dialogue: Voicing the Arts, January/February 1999: 14. Braff, Phyllis. “Flora.” The New York Times, 9 August 1998: Art Reviews. Artner, Alan. “Latest from Tomasula intrigues in new ways.” Chicago Tribune, 18 Sept. 1997: Tempo 2. Kuspit, Donald, Robert Sill, and James Yood. (Un) Earthly Delights, Springfield: Illinois State Museum, 1996. Holg, Garrett. “Maria Tomasula.” ARTnews, Dec. 1995: 155. Maxwell, Douglas F., Timely and Timeless, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, 1994. Raynor, Vivien. “An Optimist’s Eye in Ridgefield,” The New York Times, 5 December 1993: 30.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1994–Present : University of Notre Dame, Department of Art, Art History and Design: from 2007, the Michael P. Grace Endowed Professor of Arts and Letters; from 2000–2007, Associate Professor; 1994–2000, Assistant Professor
F O R U M G A L L E RY 475 Park Avenue New York, NY 10022 (212) 355 - 4545 forumgallery.com Cover:
All the Breath We Can Hold, 2016 – 2018 oil on panel, 36 x 24 inches Back cover (detail):
Abode, 2018 graphite on paper, 22 x16
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