Artist Talk: “50 Paintings”

Hear from Josephine Halvorson, Carmen Neely, and Aliza Nisenbaum, three of the artists featured in the 50 Paintings exhibition as they discuss trends in painting with co-curators Margaret Andera and Michelle Grabner.

This drop-in experience is included with Museum admission and is free for Members. Admission tickets are available at the door or online.

The Milwaukee Art Museum is grateful to our exhibition sponsors.

Artist Bios

Josephine Halvorson makes art that foregrounds firsthand experience and observation. She works primarily in painting, but also in sculpture and printmaking. Born in Brewster, Massachusetts, she studied at The Cooper Union (BFA 2003), Yale Norfolk (2002), and Columbia University (MFA 2007). Halvorson’s work and practice have been written about widely and she is a subject of Art21’s documentary series New York Close Up. Halvorson is the recipient of major international residencies and fellowships. Selected exhibitions include SECCA (2015), Storm King Art Center (2016), the ICA Boston Foster Prize Exhibition (2019-20), and Ríos Intermitentes, a group exhibition curated by Magdalena Campos-Pons as part of the Havana Bienale (2019). In 2021 she presented a solo exhibition of site responsive work at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, NM, where she was the Museum’s first artist in residence. She is represented by Sikkema Jenkins & Co., NY, and Peter Freeman, Paris.

Carmen Neely (b. 1987 in Charlotte and works in Chicago) delves into semantics through her art. Rather than mere formal inquiries confined to the canvas, Neely sees the distinction between lines as a means of grappling with personal and inherited histories. Her paintings, characterized by vibrant strokes against soft backdrops, evoke catharsis. They reflect a continual process of renegotiation and reiteration, suggesting a journey towards inner peace. Each brushstroke embodies layers of identity, values, and memories spanning generations. Neely’s expressive use of color and gesture speaks to the fluidity of these elements across time and place. Through her work, she navigates the complexities of interpretation, offering a vulnerable exploration of selfhood.

Born in Mexico City, Aliza Nisenbaum makes portrait paintings that are the manifestation of exchanges with her subjects that take place over time. Collaborating with distinct communities, she employs the focused attention of observational painting to create the conditions for close-looking. Distinct social groups are at the foreground of her work, including immigrant communities, dancers, members of grassroot organizations, subway, airport, and health workers. She engages with these groups on various levels, sharing resources, skills and ultimately, social representation. Her lengthy engagement with her subjects allows her to understand their histories and dignity beyond the space of portraiture. Often lushly decorated with patterned textiles found in her sitter’s homes and tiles from workplace settings, she makes visible the material conditions, friendships and alliances of particular work and leisure environments.

Sponsored by
Milwaukee Art Museum’s Contemporary Art Society

Image: Aliza Nisenbaum (Mexican/American, b. Mexico 1977), Dessie with Historic Posters Designed for London Underground (detail), 2019. Oil on polyester. 46 13/16 × 42 7/8 in. (119 × 109 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York. Image credit: © Aliza Nisenbaum. Photo courtesy the Artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York