The gallery of the De Pree Art Center at 91自拍论坛 is featuring photography by Stephen Milanowski in the exhibition 鈥淧ortraits of Strangers: Design on the Fly,鈥� through Friday, March 21.
The exhibition, which opened Friday, Feb. 21, is the third and final in this year鈥檚 inaugural 鈥淏reaking Artistic Barriers Series鈥� focusing on disegno. 鈥淒isegno,鈥� or 鈥渄esign鈥� in its original, 16th-century definition, refers to the creative idea in the mind of the artist. The goal of the series is to explore the principle of disegno through a contemporary, 21st-century lens. Over the course of the academic year, the exhibitions and programming at The De Pree Gallery have been devoted to exploring how 鈥渄esign鈥� in its broad, modern usage鈥攖hat is, in denoting the graphic and industrial arts鈥攃an co-exist with the so-called 鈥渇ine arts鈥� and aid one another in the unique expression of self.
Milanowski works with a hand-held, large-format camera, 4x5 film holders and a separate, high-powered flash attached to his waist, and takes portraits of everyday people. He has said of his work, 鈥淚 have the idea that everyday life is not very common after all鈥攖hat there are new things to be discovered in the commonplace and in the everyman. So, I love to make these portraits amidst public events and public settings: parades, fairs, conventions, competitions of all sorts鈥攔eally any large-scale gathering of Americans.鈥�
His photographs are part of the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), The National Gallery of Art, The Houston Museum of Fine Arts, The High Museum of Art and The Polaroid Collection, among numerous other public collections. MoMA has purchased his work in CELEBRATIONS and ANIMALS; his work was also included in MoMA鈥檚 recent survey of late 20th-century photography in the newly reinstalled Edward Steichen galleries. He worked with Bob Tarte to produce the book 鈥淒uplicity,鈥� a monograph of Milanowski鈥檚 portraits.
Milanowski earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Cranbrook Academy of Art and his Master of Science degree from The Creative Photography Laboratory at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He currently resides in Madison, Wis.
The De Pree Art Center is located at 160 E. 12th St., on Columbia Avenue, at 12th Street. The gallery is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., although the gallery will be closed on Saturday-Sunday, March 15-16, because of the college's spring recess. The facilities are handicapped accessible.
Graves Hall is located at 263 College Ave., between 10th and 12th streets.