The post-World War II, modern period proved an experimental and trying time for art makers. Artists were exploring new styles and modes of painting, including the abstract expressionism known as Art Informel. “From Picasso to Fontana—Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960-1968,” the recently opened exhibit at the Kemper museum on campus, explores not only these new artistic developments, but also the culture and history of art collecting at Washington University.

Ranging from “Metabolics” in 2009 to “Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other” last year, Washington University’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum has often provided a forum for avant-garde or atypical art forms. Its two new fall openings, “Precarious Worlds: Contemporary Art from Germany” and “Tomás Saraceno: Cloud-Specific,” certainly keep with this tradition.

Upon stepping into “Gesture, Scrape, Combine, Calculate: Postwar Abstraction from the Permanent Collection,” the first thing you see is—you guessed it—empty space. There is certainly a lot of it: on the walls, on the floor, across the entire room. It makes sense because this is a small exhibition.

“Gesture, Scrape, Combine, Calculate: Postwar Abstraction from the Permanent Collection,” an exhibition of post-World War II abstract expressionism, will be on display until Sept. 20 at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. The exhibit contains 13 paintings and three sculptures and features work solely from the museum’s permanent collection. View the full article.

Yo Meth and Red, Your performance this weekend (or what we witnessed of it, through the unfortunate auditory version of beer goggles) was truly stellar, bringing “cool” to Wash. U. in a way it hasn’t known since that night in 1997 when a few freshmen created a drinking game based on utterances from their chemistry […]

“Chance Aesthetics” and “Metabolics” are two very disparate exhibitions, yet, on some level, they accomplish the same purpose.

With the recent news that Brandeis University will be closing its Rose Art Museum, many are concerned about the future of Washington University’s Kemper Art Museum. Brandeis University is closing its art museum in an effort to alleviate some of the stress placed on the liberal arts school by the economic crisis. There appears to […]