Madron Gallery Bulletin

ISSUE 11 // 12.5.2022

“Street Scene with Man,” Todros Geller, 1942, tempera and watercolor, 10 x 14 inches

WHAT’S NEW?

Articles of Interest

In case you missed it, Palette and Palate recently got a lovely feature in the Chicago Tribune (!) Don’t have a subscription? We’ve got you covered: read the whole piece on Madron’s website, then drop in and see for yourself the show folks are calling “stunning” and “unbelievable” (we’re totally blushing over here).

And while the Palette and Palate show formally ends December 16th, the Seven Lively Arts paintings will be staying up into the new year. So if hectic holiday activities have kept you from being able to swing by, worry not — you’ll still have another chance to catch this vibrant piece of Chicago’s history.

On that note, the gallery will not be open during regular hours from December 23rd - January 2nd. If you would like to visit during that week, please call ahead to schedule an appointment.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Fresh Coats & Lab Coats

If these early sunsets are starting to give you the winter blues, maybe we can give you something to look ahead to for when we spring forward — our first exhibit of 2023! Titled Working Memory, the show will feature new work by local artist Erin Garrity-Duffey, whose paintings explore the intersection of art and science, aging and the mind, and functionality and breakdown through delicately fluid biomorphic abstractions. Mark your calendars for opening day: March 6th, 2023. That way even if there are no buds on the trees just yet, you’ll still have something colorful in store.

“Reconstructed,” Erin Garrity-Duffey, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches

WHAT’S THAT UP TOP?

Snow and Tell

Todros Geller’s rendering of a hunched man dragging a stack of wood up a snowy street seems to be a relatively straightforward winter scene. Certainly it’s not romanticizing the colder months: a dull gray cloud cover sits like a weighted blanket across the top of the canvas; the snowfall isn’t fresh; white cloth on clothing lines billows in the breeze, blowing in the direction opposite to the man’s journey, making his task (how much wood is he carrying, anyway?) all the harder. But this chilly tableau also holds some gestural resonance with Geller’s portraits of laborers from the Depression years and sympathizing with their backbreaking work, while the conspicuous lack of telephone lines calls into question just where this piece is set — perhaps a classic Gellerism at play, blending elements of the old country in with the new.