The Ungrateful Son

“The Ungrateful Son” No. 145

by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Once a man was sitting with his wife before their front door. They had a roasted chicken which they were about to eat together. Then the man saw that his aged father was approaching, and he hastily took the chicken and hid it, for he did not want to share it with him. The old man came, had a drink, and went away. Now the son wanted to put the roasted chicken back onto the table, but when he reached for it, it had turned into a large toad, which jumped into his face and sat there and never went away again. If anyone tried to remove it, it looked venomously at him as though it would jump into his face, so that no one dared to touch it. And the ungrateful son was forced to feed the toad every day, or else it would eat from his face. And thus he went to and fro in the world without rest.

Source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Der undankbare Sohn, Kinder- und Hausmärchen, no. 145. Translated by D. L. Ashliman. © 2006.

June 8 - July 28, 2024

Opening Reception: June 15, 2024, 4-6pm

34 Main Street
Millerton, NY 12546
P.O Box 412

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

11am-5pm and by appointment.

Join us for the closing weekend of Dan Gunn’s Sawyer exhibition on Saturday, March 2nd at 3pm as he talks with Chris Reitz, Director and Chair of the University of Louisville’s Hite Institute of Art + Design, where he also serves as Associate Professor of Critical and Curatorial Studies. While reflecting on how the histories of landscape painting, craft, design, and folk art in America have informed Gunn’s work, the two will also consider Reitz’s own research areas of Euro-American art and politics in the mid to late 20th century, including the crosscurrents between Gunn’s work and Reitz’s recent publication Everything is Everywhere on the late German artist Martin Kippenberger.

Counting the Seconds Between Lightning and Thunder

May 20 to September 16

Opening: May 20, 4–6 PM

Curated by: Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, Jeff Barnett-Winsby & Will Hutnick

The Wassaic Project 2023 Summer Exhibition, Counting the Seconds Between Lightning and Thunder, will feature 40 artists throughout all seven floors of Maxon Mills.

Artists: Fern Apfel, Mara Baldwin, Desmond Beach, Shawn Bitters + Matthew Willie Garcia, Leonardo Bravo, Michael Covello + Elizabeth Schneider, Adinah Dancyer, Liz Ferrer + Bow Ty, Francesco Gattuso, Jeila Gueramian, Dan Gunn, Iris Helena Hamers, Jazmine Hayes, Joe Hedges, Pete Hillstrom, Jeremiah Jossim, Natalja Kent, Dani Klebes, Kyle Kogut, KK Kozik, Ailyn Lee, Chip McCall, Caitlin McCormack, Austin Nash, Chiara No, Marianna Peragallo, Kat Ryals, Azadeh Sanati Nia, Jen Shepard, Daniel Shieh, Jeff Slomba, Melissa Vogley Woods, Janet Wang, Poyen Wang, Jen White-Johnson, Natalie Woodlock, Ping Zheng

Open Saturdays and Sundays, 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Wassaic Project is participating in Upstate Art Weekend.

Schedule

at Maxon Mills
12–7 PM: Gallery hours
12–5 PM: Art Nest hours
5–6:30 PM: Artist talks with Beth Campbell, Adinah Dancyer, Danielle Klebes, Marianna Peragallo, Daniel Shieh, and Jen White-Johnson

Outside on the Gridley Chapel lawn
2–5 PM: Autistic Joy Mini Zine Garden and Community Interactive Zine-Making Station. Come create a paper zine garden of autism acceptance, disability joy, and inclusion with disability art activist Jen White-Johnson

at Gridley Chapel
12–7 PM: Repeating screening of residency alumni Adinah Dancyer's 2021 video MOVING.

at the Luther Barn
3–5 PM: Open studios with our July artists-in-residence

at The Lantern
7 PM onwards: Live music by Winter Family

Dan Gunn

The Ungrateful Son

August 16 - September 30, 2022​

“A man and his wife were once sitting by the door of their house, and they had a roasted chicken set before them, and were about to eat it together. Then the man saw that his aged father was coming, and hastily took the chicken and hid it, for he would not permit him to have any of it. The old man came, took a drink, and went away. Now the son wanted to put the roasted chicken on the table again, but when he took it up, it had become a great toad, which jumped into his face and sat there and never went away again, and if any one wanted to take it off, it looked venomously at them as if it would jump in their face, so that no one would venture to touch it. And the ungrateful son was forced to feed the toad every day, or else it fed itself on his face; and thus he went about the world without knowing rest.”

- The Ungrateful Son, The Brothers Grimm N.145, 1815

“The Ungrateful Son” series lamps are larger than life-size, hand-built, stoneware toads embedded with marbles allowing light to escape. Fully functional as floor lamps, the toads are meant to alternate between menacing and sublime.

A panoptic frog with many eyes / warts brings forward associations with apocalyptic Biblical plagues, Japonisme within American Arts and Crafts, and in the European mythological tradition is a potent symbol of abject masculinity. The series and exhibition title is taken from the Brothers Grimm fairytale where the toad is a punishment for intergenerational disloyalty. Amphibians are seen as the opposite of princes, with contemporary examples like Kermit or the alt-right ‘Pepe’. The work presents a swollen counterfactual version of a folk art object. The use of stoneware reinforces the relationship to American craft traditions and the usage of the past to construct an political image for the present.

As an artist born in suburban Kansas, Gunn’s practice processes imagery from the American Midwestern rural vernacular. Wood-paneled basements, cheap roadside memorabilia of the West, and signs of agrarian culture are the norm. Gunn’s work investigates the ideological function of his cultural inheritance, both for political purposes but also for a formulation of male subjectivity. “The Ungrateful Son” series is an attempt to construct a different contemporary image from the past, a kind of strategic anachronism that forgoes idealization, and is therefore more accurate to the present. In Flyweight Projects presentation, the symbolic threat of the object is heightened by its implied monstrous scale.

Flyweight is a 1:12 scale exhibition space for solo projects organized by artists Clare Torina and Jesse Cesario. The stationary gallery is located in an over-the-closet nook in their Brooklyn apartment. The mobile version of the gallery moves around the city in collaboration with other galleries, curators, and collectors.

24" x 28" x 20"

born December 2018

instagram: @flyweightprojects​

Jun. 18, 2022 — Oct. 21, 2022

Opening Reception - Friday, July 1, 5-8 PM (CST)

Curator Gallery Talk - Saturday, July 9, 11:30 AM (CST)

Family Day - Saturday, October 15, 1-3 PM (CST)

𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓵𝓸𝓬𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼… is an exhibition showcasing artists represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago.

Monique Meloche founded her gallery in Chicago’s West Loop in 2001 with an international roster of emerging artists working in all media. Their program has been diverse and inclusive since its inception, and they continue to be a trailblazer for artistic talents early or under-recognized in their careers. Taking a curatorial approach honed after Meloche’s six years at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Meloche presents conceptually challenging programming in Chicago and at art fairs internationally with an emphasis on institutional outreach.  The gallery’s focus is on discovering and fostering emerging artists – bringing them to the attention of collectors, curators, institutions and global audiences.   

“She has a real dedication to showing a very diverse program, especially an ethnically diverse program,” said Michael Darling, chief curator of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

moniquemeloche artists are in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, MCA Chicago, Smart Museum, DePaul Art Museum, Block Museum, Whitney Museum, MOMA, the Met, Guggenheim, Studio Museum in Harlem, Detroit Institute of Arts, LACMA, PAMM Miami, Nasher Museum at Duke, Birmingham Museum of Art, Kemper Museum, Smithsonian National Gallery of African American Art History and Culture, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, AGO Toronto, Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Seattle Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Chrysler Museum Norfolk, National Gallery of Jamaica, Des Moines Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Art and The Ringling.

Exhibiting Artists: Sanford Biggers, Layo Bright, Dan Gunn, Sheree Hovsepian, Rashid Johnson, Kajahl, Ben Murray, Ebony G. Patterson, Karen Reimer, Jake Troyli, Nate Young

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕘𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 is open at the Kemper Museum in Kansas City. I’m happy to be showing for the second time in the city where I grew up. The show runs until September 11th.

 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕘𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 is the first major multi-museum survey dedicated to contemporary artists based in the Midwest and will feature new and recent work, including several site-responsive commissions, by 23 artists working across painting, photography, installation, and performance. The artists come from a variety of backgrounds and are currently based in Detroit, Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Madison, Minneapolis, and Saint Louis, among other locales throughout the Midwest. Celebrating the artistic and cultural complexity of the region, the exhibition provides a platform for a generation of artists who are shaping the current and future discourses of contemporary art and culture.

 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕘𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 is co-organized by Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibition is accompanied by a digital catalog available here and a parallel program of conversations and events.

This project is supported by an Individual Artist Project grant by Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs. @ChicagoDCASE #DCASEgrants #DCASE #Chicago #Chicagoart

of the land behind them

January 8th - February 19th, 2022

Appointments encouraged. Masks required.

PRESS RELEASE-

moniquemeloche is thrilled to present of the land behind them, a solo exhibition of new works by Dan Gunn. This is Gunn’s fourthsolo exhibition with the gallery.

of the land behind them explores the psychological and mythological implications of regional self-conception. Focusing on the Midwestern pastoral landscape, Gunn considers the urban and rural divides through elaborately carved draperies with inset landscape imagery, paper collage, and ceramic sculpture.

In gallery one, visitors first encounter Gunn’s seminal work Patchwork Plateau, an expansive table-like sculpture that figuratively and visually lays the ground for the exhibition. Mounted for the first time since its Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago exhibition 10 years ago, the work reads as both topographic and domestic, weaving elements of handcraft and painting in an ambitious landscape installation. Flanking the large work are a series of sculptural paintings titled Suitcase Acts. Visually similar to letterpress drawers often used for display in antique shops and evocative of Louise Nevelson’s wall pieces of the 1950s and ’60s, the glazed stoneware works feature nestled objects representing tiny bottles, figurines, tool-shaped items, and other tchotchkes that speak to a personal landscape and sentimental attachment to American kitsch history.

In gallery two, Gunn presents a new pictorial backdrop using his signature drapery style—paintings created of hand-cut and stained plywood meticulously sewn together to resemble actual hanging fabrics—and introducing low-relief elements. Titled Paradise Scenery, the sprawling tableau depicts an idyllic Ohio River landscape nestled in between two lush trees and cushioned inside a tent-like structure. Deriving from the idealized nomenclature of the American countryside, Gunn reveals the constructed nature of this language in the physical splitting of the landscape, inviting viewers to look beyond the curtain. The large-scale drapery piece combines elements of hand and chip carving, whittled bird sculptures, and salvaged wood from historic sites, a nod to his paternal woodworking connection and commentary on the materials and processes that form strains of masculine subjectivity.

Continuing the trajectory of the collages, Gunn mimics his puzzle pieced paintings in a smaller format through a series of paper works. Mining imagery from National Geographic magazines and the like, these works speak to both the normal and peculiar aspects of the Midwest region and the use and misuse of these images in politics and culture. Magazine clippings of farming, eagles, fishing, quilts, La-Z-Boy sofas, and workwear are an attempt to decentralize associations of rural imagery and far-right ideologies from the wholesome connections related to Gunn’s personal experience growing up in Kansas.

Taken together, the works on view offer an investigation into ideological functions of American Midwestern imagery, both in politics as a “Real America” and as stage settings for the psychological and mythological landscape that underlies the Midwest’s self-conception. Through an exploration of materials and process, the artist generates a scenic landscape ripe with unconscious associations and emotional potential as an attempt to construct a counterfactual folk art, one not riddled with nostalgia but more accurate to the current state of affairs.

Dan’s work is currently included in The Regional—the first major multi-museum survey dedicated to contemporary artists based in the Midwest—on view at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati from December 10, 2021 to March 20, 2022, and traveling to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City from June 2 to September 11, 2022.

The Regional is the first major multi-museum survey dedicated to contemporary artists based in the Midwest and will feature new and recent work, including several site-responsive commissions, by approximately 25 artists working across painting, photography, installation, and performance. The artists come from a variety of backgrounds and are currently based in Detroit, Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Madison, Minneapolis, and Saint Louis, among other locales throughout the Midwest. Celebrating the artistic and cultural complexity of the region, the exhibition provides a platform for a generation of artists who are shaping the current and future discourses of contemporary art and culture.

The Regional is co-organized by Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibition will be accompanied by a digital catalogue and a parallel program of conversations and performances.

ARTISTS

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Hellen Ascoli, Lyndon Barrois, Jr., Jonathan Christensen Caballero, Rachel Cox, Mara Duvra, Conrad Egyir, Isa Gagarin, Rashawn Griffin, Dan Gunn, Pao Houa Her, Anissa Lewis, Dakota Mace Diné, Gisela McDaniel, Lorena Molina, Huong Ngo, Yvonne Osei, Natalie Petrovsky, Devan Shimoyama, Alice Tippit, Jordan Weber, Margo Wolowiec, Nikki Woods

The Shallow Act of Seeing

December 13, 2020 — May 16, 2021

I’m thrilled to announce my participation in the group show, The Shallow Act of Seeing at the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The show is curated by Laura Bickford and includes two other contemporary artists working in wood, Rachel Beach and Bayne Peterson. The show places this work in context alongside carved works from Kohler’s collection.

From the Curator: “Pushing against the very qualities that define their medium, artists Dan Gunn, Bayne Peterson, and Rachel Beach defy the physical rigidity of wood and confound expectations of its use.

Since prehistoric times, humankind has used wood to make things they need. Today, wooden objects of utility continue to dominate the landscape when we think of it: tables and chairs, bowls and spoons, building frames, pencils, and paper. Wood is strong, solid, natural; it is also abundant and versatile. But in spite of its utility, or perhaps because of it, artists have also long favored it to make objects with uses that lie beyond the purely physical. The Shallow Act of Seeing considers the work of three artists who make objects that reward the process of looking rather than simply seeing.

Inspired by his time as a set builder, Dan Gunn uses lacquered plywood to create works that appear to be draped fabric. He makes things that are both images and objects, which from a distance fool the viewer into thinking they are soft and flexible fabric. Bayne Peterson uses the concentric circles and ovals of wood, pieced together in unusual color combinations. With complex curves and seemingly impossible angles, his sculptures challenge ideas about the material qualities of wood. Rachel Beach's totemic constructions daringly balance large, solid forms atop each other in defiance of wood's presumed structural capabilities.”

Announcing a solo presentation of my work with moniquemeloche for Intersect Aspen, taking place July 22 – 26. Intersect Aspen (formerly Art Aspen), which is an annual art and cultural event in the heart of one of the nation’s most prestigious collector communities. In 2020 it is an online-only event, replacing Art Aspen, which has been running since 2010.

Four Flags Chicago

CHICAGO, IL— Chicago Manual  Style is pleased to present the Chicago Edition of the international project Four Flags. The project is designed to support and promote local artists in public and online space during this period of isolation and unrest. In a moment when physical encounters are limited and viewing art is primarily restricted to the virtual experience, the Chicago edition of Four Flags instills a sense of collectivity while providing a platform for creative local voices. The exhibition will be installed on the façade of the Chicago Manual Style building in the West Town gallery district, and viewable to all pedestrians and vehicles from the street.

Ongoing exhibition documentation will be accessible via Instagram:@fourflags2020 @chicago_manual_style

Flags by more than 35 artists from across Chicago will be shown simultaneously; new flags are presented on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Flags will be produced as an edition of 4 (+1 AP) and sold at $200 USD (plus additional shipping costs) to a domestic and international roster of collectors and institutions. The project will feature both established and emerging artists to create an iconic exhibition for our times.

The entirety of the proceeds from sales will go directly to the artist, excluding production costs.

Initiated in The Netherlands, sister projects under the same title of Four Flags have been installed in São Paulo, Belgium, Bogotá, and Düsseldorf. Chicago will be the only site in the United States, visible on the façade of Chicago Manual Style.

About Four Flags

Four Flags was founded by Julia Mullié and Nick Terra in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and was launched on April 15, 2020. Exhibited artists to date include Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Das Institut (Kerstin Brätsch & Adele Röder), Kasper Bosmans, Jennifer Tee, Willem de Rooij, Rodrigo Hernández, Maria Roosen, Anna-Sophie Berger, Dora Budor, and Lena Henke, among others.
Bloemstraat 140B, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Chicago Manual Style and P.S. (Publishing Services) is a project space sited in a garage in Chicago, IL. Directed by Stephanie Cristello, the program is dedicated to exhibitions featuring established and emerging artists, and the production of critical writing. Positioned at the convergence of exhibitions and publications, each show results in the production and commission of essays and texts on contemporary art. Ruslana Lichtzier will be collaborating on curating this specific project.

Dan Gunn “Bunts”

November 11, 2019 - January 12, 2020

University Club of Chicago

www.ucco.com

Viewings by appointment.

*The University Club of Chicago is a member’s only, please contact me to arrange to see the show. Email dan@dangunn.com to arrange a viewing.

The Club will host an artist’s talk on December 9th.

A solo exhibition of new work, Dan Gunn “Bunts” refers awkwardly both to the ‘bunting’ of draped fabric for festive decorations and to the gentle yet strategic baseball maneuver. The work continues the ‘Scenery’ series and runs the length of the University Club’s twelfth-floor gallery. Created out of cut pieces of plywood that are laced back together with cord, the works are both flat while picturing dimensionality and whole while existing in a multitude of parts. As objects, they mimic aprons, tablecloths, or quilts. For this exhibition, the works also include inset sunflowers that arc from east to west across the gallery.

Elsewhere in the club lurks “The Ungrateful Son No. 5”, a ceramic frog from “The Ungrateful Son” series. These floor lamps are larger than life-size, hand-built, stoneware toads with embedded glowing marbles. Drawing their title from the Grimm Brother’s fairytale #145, the floor lamps are meant to be both menacing and quaint in equal measure. The many-eyed frogs harbor associations with apocalyptic Biblical plagues and the American Arts and Crafts movement.

1411 Buchanan Street
37208 Nashville, Tennessee

regular hours: Tuesday - Saturday 12-6pm

+1 917-969-9755

Clay Break ~~~

The non-ceramic-artist’s summer ceramic arts residency.

Mission

Clay Break is a ceramics residency tailored to artists whose primary training and focus lie outside of ceramics.

UARK Ceramics is a thriving community of ceramic artists, educators, and students with an interest in fostering a rich dialogue about clay’s role in contemporary art. Clay Break is an opportunity for us to open our doors and share our facilities and expertise with artists who are clay-curious. The program was conceived with an awareness that for those who want to familiarize or reacquaint themselves with the material, locating a supportive environment that also provides a significant time period for uninterrupted development can be a challenge. We want to help. Our commitment is to provide the time, space, facilities, and technical support to assist our residents in the creation of a significant body of new works in clay—we wish to give our residents a break from the established routines of their practice, and help them discover something new for themselves in clay.

http://uarkceramics.org/claybreakresidency

ELMHURST ART MUSEUM

MAY 11 - AUGUST 25, 2019

The title With a Capital P is a reference to an approach that doesn’t always use paint or brush. Curated by six distinguished local painters Leslie Baum, Magalie Guérin, José Lerma, Nancy Mladenoff, Suellen Rocca, and Kay Rosen, the group exhibition consists of six rooms, each using different criteria to interpret artistic approaches and a wide-ranging conversation about process and media by artists based in the Midwest and beyond. Artists whose work will be exhibited include Zoë Charlton, Mel Cook, Julie Doucet, Mari Eastman, Paul Erschen, Susan Frankel, Carrie Gundersdorf, Dan Gunn, Portia Hein, Sophie von Hellermann, Marie Herwald Hermann, Jim Hodges, Carol Jackson, James Kao, Brian Kapernekas, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Nazafarin Lotfi, Christy Matson, Tim Nickodemus, Melissa Oresky, Christina Ramberg, Clare Rojas, Lisa Sanditz, Olivia Schreiner, Arlene Shechet, Carolyn Swiszcz, Frank Trankina, Michelle Wasson, Kevin Wolff, Scott Wolniak, and more. Works by each of the artist-curators is included in their gallery as well. 

With a Capital P Artists/Curators 

• Leslie Baum, whose contributions are the result of an ongoing plein air painting project, curated an exhibition including twelve other painters with interests in abstraction and landscape. Their pieces are hung salon style and joined by Baum’s work, which contains light washes and patches of color describing the feeling of a specific time and place. 

• Magalie Guérin, whose painting process includes constantly revisiting and building compositions, chose six artists whose work in sculpture complement some of her own shape-oriented painting process and sensibilities. She states, “Oil paint is sculptural in its application; it is not a far stretch to think about sculpture when painting.” 

• José Lerma, known for works that are part art history and part personal mythology, invited numerous artists to make work on paper napkins, inspired by an installation piece from Elmhurst Art Museum’s collection by Jim Hodges. In this section of the exhibition, the ordinary material of paper napkins has been transformed through the artists’ works. 

• Nancy Mladenoff exhibits several pieces of her own work along with her personal art collection, which she lives with and is inspired by on a daily basis. Mladenoff's recent narrative work explores the vernacular lives of women. In her current series, a frog serves as her personal avatar, providing shared moments of humor, contemplation, and physical activity. 

• Suellen Rocca, one of the original members of the Hairy Who, most recently curated The Figure and the Chicago Imagists: Selections from the Elmhurst College Art Collection at the Museum, chose to focus on multiple works by two other artists, Susan Frankel and Frank Trankina. Providing more exhibition space to each artist allowed a larger representation of their work to be shown. 

• Kay Rosen’s text-based work reveals content through the formal configuration of words and letters, and their deconstruction. Rosen has dedicated her gallery solely to the work of the artist and teacher Kevin Wolff, who passed away in 2018. She explains, “His humor and wit, tinged with a contrariness, mischievousness, and sabotage, infuses most of his works.” 

Events

Saturday, May 11, 2019 - 1:30pm

Panel Discussion

Artists Leslie Baum, Magalie Guerin, Jose Lerma, Nancy Mladenoff, and Suellen Rocca will give a presentation and discussion on the exhibition With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters. This dialogue will explore contemporary practices in painting and curation as a means of art production.  

Saturday, May 18, 2019 - 1:30pm

Director’s Tour

Join Executive Director John McKinnon for an exclusive tour of With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters and Parallel Perspectives.

Saturday, August 24, 2019 - 1:30pm

Exhibition Tour

Join us for an in-depth look at the current exhibitions With a Capital P: Selections by Six Painters and Parallel Perspectives.

Dan Gunn Ungrateful Son

in Mariel Capanna’s Little Stone, Open Home

Apr 15–Jul 15, 2019

Good Weather

4400 Edgemere

North Little Rock, Arkansas

E-mail desk@goodweathergallery.com to set an appointment to visit.