This past Friday, I drove up to ZIA Gallery in Winnetka to
see the current exhibition of paintings by Roland Kulla. Unable to attend last
week’s opening reception, I was excited to see Kulla’s latest work on the
gallery walls.
Roland Kulla has created a new series
of large-scale acrylic paintings under the title of “Industrial Strength”. With a long history of utilizing the
bridge as subject, Kulla begins to move past the cropped detail of abstraction
to full-framed recognizable industrial landscape. But Kulla hasn’t totally discarded
the abstract-complexity of industrial pattern; he has included it as a way to
frame the scene. He presents a secondary subject—a speeding train or the yellow
line of an unoccupied road—and surrounds it with patterns of steel. In a
refreshing twist, the identifiable works are often flanked by canvases
depicting just abstract pattern. Both
versions offer the viewer an abundance of detail to explore.
ZIA|Gallery
is located at 548 Chestnut Street in Winnetka, Illinois. The gallery hours are
Tuesday through Saturday from 10am-5pm and by appointment. The exhibition
continues through November 11th.
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