SWEPT OVER THE RUG – A Commemoration of Caretaking
Michelle Grabner + Brad Killam
Jan 23 – Mar 7, 2025
Artist Reception: Thursday, Feb 6 | 5:00–8:00pm
A visually arresting and wonderfully provocative installation. Bronze-leafed wash buckets to porcelain toilet paper rolls to Wisconsin landscape paintings.
Michelle’s tableau of custodial implements memorializes janitorial labor. A concept that emerged from her artist-in-residency experience at Kohler Co. Michelle transforms these elements in silverleaf, bronze, and porcelain in celebration of their design and use.
The unexpected juxtaposition of Brad’s bucolic landscapes causes us to wonder about our own custodial practices and responsibilities in the world around us — and reflects the couple’s shared life as dedicated artists, teachers, and parents.
Grabner’s interplay between material experimentation and conceptual rigor is contrasted with Killam’s enthusiasm for traditional genre painting and its histories. While their ongoing engagement with their daily environments may yield different approaches to artmaking, art as a lived experience is something they both value.
Michelle Grabner is a Guggenheim Fellow and Crown Family Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Brad is a professor at College of DuPage. These domestic partners have collaborated on artwork, curating, and publishing since the 1990s.
Gallery Hours: Tue-Fri 12-6pm | Sat 10am-2pm