Roland Kulla - ZIA Gallery

I became aware of ZIA Gallery a few of months ago. Located in the village of Winnetka—17 miles north of Chicago—The gallery specializes in contemporary American photography, painting and works on paper. It represents established and emerging artists in a range of styles and media.

A day late... the Roland Kulla exhibition closed—yesterday—at the ZIA Gallery. Pieces, may sill be available... Contact Zia Gallery at ZIAgallery.net for additional information.

The Kulla exhibition—which opened at the end of October with a wonderful reception—presented a series of large scale paintings, pencil drawings, and prints which define the complex beauty of steel bridge structures. Following Kulla's career for a number of years—and seeing the work's evolution—I've come to my own conclusions about the metaphorical content of the imagery. The bridge symbolism seems obvious... the element needed to move from one point to another. But there is something more. I see the screen-like, steel-woven structures as symbolic of the barriers we need to navigate to acquire our "clear blue sky" goals. The works seem to be symbolic of achievement on so many levels. From Kulla's artist statement:

I am fascinated by the built environment. I reflect on what the structures tell about their builders as well as their interaction with nature and the results of time. Since 1998 I've focused on the engineering ingenuity that created Chicago's many bridges. Structural elements are abstracted from their context and painted with a hard-edged realism on a scale that highlights the monumentality of the forms and the creativity necessary for their existence.

Although people are not the direct subjects of my work, they are integral to it. The structures stand as proxy for human experience. I create places and moods that invite the viewer to enter into the work and form their own relationship to it.

Zia Gallery is located at 548 Chestnut, Winnetka, IL 60093. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday 10-5. Call for additional information: 847.446.3970.

Learn more about ZIA Gallery through this link.

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