An on-line drawing exhibition
April through June
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Portrait Society Gallery is pleased to present PSG on PAPER, an exhibition about drawing. Each week, the gallery will present the work of one artist.
All of the work can be purchased. Some is listed on this website's Store (above in menu). Call the gallery at 414 870-9930 or write to for additional purchases or information. We will porch deliver anywhere in the MIlwaukee area free of charge.
Artists include: Emily Belknap, Melissa Cooke, Steve Burnham, Skully Gustafson, Pat Hidson, Nykoli Koslow, Ashley Lusietto, David Niec, Rosemary Ollison, Amy O'Neill, Mark Ottens, Nirmal Raja, Rafael Francisco Salas, Della Wells, Christopher Wood.
WEEK ONE
Featuring Skully Gustafson
Skully has been represented by PSG since he graduated from MIAD in 2012. He is a painter who has also been consistently and emphatically making drawings over the past few years.
When he turned 30 in 2019, Skully (with his partner Erik Moore) took his first trip to Europe at the invitation of an art residency program in France. The Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Fund provided a grant to cover transportation costs. The culminating exhibition, curated by Sæter Jørgensen Contemporary in the town of Gaillac, featured a wall-sized installation of drawings, some of which are included here.
When I think of Skully's work I think of someone who rolls up his sleeves and dives into the media. Imagine the blank page like a swimming pool with the paint, graphite or oil pastel sticks his means of navigating that space. Sometimes the marks float on the surface, sometimes they thrash around, sometimes they merely ripple in the breeze. While his style is expressive and playful, it also shows mature control. He lets accidents and improvisational gestures take command but then reins them in once he sees what is materializing. Most of all what I love about Skully's work is its freshness. Every drawing feels like a new discovery, as if it landed somewhere a little out of any normal orbit. And there is joy in all of this.