Carleton Lecturer in Art to Give Talk On New Works

Daniel Bruggeman, Carleton College senior lecturer in art, will present a talk on his recent works and his artistic trajectory entitled “Compensation for a Permanent Loss” on Thursday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. in the Boliou Hall Auditorium, room 104. The lecture is in conjunction with the faculty exhibition “Natural Resourcery” in the Carleton Art Gallery.

In his talk, Bruggeman will focus on the ideas of human relation to nature that are at play in his works in the exhibition, but also reflect on the artistic path that led him to explore natural themes. In his gauche pieces that are part of the series “Compensation for a Permanent Loss,” extinct or endangered animals are “reintroduced” into a natural setting in ways that are ironic and humorous: buffalo roam in romanticized 19th-century landscape paintings, bird songs are played over speaker systems and passenger pigeons are projected onto trees. He sees paintings as “creating space to tell a story:” in this case, a story of the erosion of the natural world.

Bruggeman hasn’t always been interested in nature, and will discuss this transformation in his career as part of his lecture. Although he was born and raised in rural Nebraska, he didn’t begin painting nature scenes until he was an art student in New York City during the height of postmodernism. Drawing on his farming roots, he began by appropriating the designs on chemical company advertisements. Later, he grappled with the idea of harmony with nature versus struggle to “tame” the wild, finally taking a more ambivalent approach. His lecture will include a number of works by artists that influenced his method of approaching the natural world, from John J. Audubon to George Catlin to Mark Tansey.

Bruggeman teaches observational, field and figure drawing at Carleton. He has recently exhibited his paintings and dioramas at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis and Bridgewater, Lustberg, Blumenfeld Gallery in New York. His work can be found in a number of public and private collections including The Minnesota Historical Society. He has also received McKnight, NEA and Minnesota State Arts Board fellowships.

The talk is in conjunction with the “Natural Resourcery,” exhibition at the Carleton Art Gallery, which features the work of five members of the Carleton studio art faculty, in addition to Bruggeman. The paintings, photographs, drawings and sculpture included in the exhibition meditate on ideas of nature, landscape and human impact.

“Natural Resourcery” will be on exhibit through May 9, 2009. The Carleton College Art Gallery is located near First and Winona streets in Northfield, in the lower level of the Music and Drama Center on the Carleton College campus. The gallery is open Monday through Wednesday, 12 noon to 6 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 12 noon to 10 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 4 p.m. For more information on the exhibit, the lecture, or for disability accommodations, call the Carleton Art Gallery at (507) 222-4342 or visit its website.