Look Here! Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum: Part II

To conclude my series of posts related to my artwork in the Look Here! exhibition at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, we continue our tour of the show.  We enter the master bedroom space where Rajasthan Reimagined, my series created for this exhibition currently on view.

It has been two years since I began work on this pilot collaboration project with UWM Libraries Digital Humanities Lab and Special Collections.

The eight artworks in Rajasthan Reimagined are based on my interaction with historical Indian architectural renderings compiled in the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details (1894). Three volumes of the rare twelve volume portfolio are housed in the UWM Library’s Special Collections. 

Some of the illustrations I referenced are shown in a display case so that visitors can have a better understanding of my research process. 

The highly accurate and detailed original drawings were reproduced in England as large scale photo-lithograph plates with hopes they would be used chiefly as working drawings for the artisan. They are truly exquisite and worth a look!

Additional color plates I utilized are displayed in the Villa's beautiful wooden paneled library.

Color plates from the Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Detail 
are on the top shelf

In recent blog posts, I have featured six of the eight finished pieces in the series and explained my process.

Two works I haven't yet highlighted are Inner Garden I & II which were inspired by a rendering of a low relief wall carving depicting vases of flowers. (below)

Much of my work over recent years have been trompe-l'oei paintings of ancient Asian low relief carvings, so the wall panels depicted in this rendering fascinated me.

In Inner Garden I & II the representational elements from the portfolio are progressively deconstructed. Other elements pulse in and out of focus.

Inner Garden II

36" x  50"

Acrylic on Kalamkari fabric

Inner Garden II
36" x  50"
Acrylic on Kalamkari fabric

Having been assigned the master bedroom space in the Villa Terrace, I was able to plan pieces specifically for this site. 

The character of the patterns painted on the ceiling of the mater bedroom, wall sizes, fireplace, and other features of the room were taken into consideration.

Hand-painted ceiling panels in the master bedroom

Jeypore Dreams Remembered, for example, echos the mantle's size and form.

The artist with Jeypore Dreams Remembered

I felt that architectural elements depicted in the Jeypore Portfolio were visually similar to the Cyril Colnik ironwork collection permanently displayed at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum. 

I meant the arches in Mystic Garden to match the character of Colnik's iron garden gates.

Leaving the master bedroom to explore other parts of the museum, we look down on the terrace where people are enjoy the summer evening, formal gardens and lake view.

The ladies dressing room is paneled in feminine paintings of ribbon tied floral garlands, baskets, and birds.

I visited the Villa Terrace frequently as a child. The Rococo style paneling always intrigued the budding artist in me.

Permanent collections of porcelain and paintings are displayed in the dining room and throughout the museum. A few favorites can be seen below.

Pre-Raphialite Painted Glass Window
Originally installed in the Pabst Brewing family home

There is still time to visit the Look Here! exhibition at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum through September 16, 2018.

Some paintings in the Rajasthan Reimagined series traveled to India with me for my January 2018 solo exhibition Eternal Visions in Kolkata at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark (an exhibition made possible in part by a grant from The Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Mary L. Nohl Fund Suitcase Export Fund for Visual Art).

My next blog post will be about that exhibition in India.

Don't forget to check out my artwork available at my Etsy store, Facebook page, as well as my Instagram feed.