Drawn from Madison and Midwestern collections, this exhibition highlights the artistic vision of Chicago-based artist Dan Ramirez. For over forty years Ramirez has employed a consistent visual language to explore abstraction, religion, music, and play in paintings, prints, drawings, and digital media.
Adapting the language of minimalism with a late twentieth century experience, Ramirez’ work is both personal and multifaceted. Featuring recent work along with paintings inspired by his early print portfolio, Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus: An Homage to Olivier Messiaen, the artist delves into the spiritual, but also considers the relationship between the act of making music and the making of art. He plays with materials and perception in a process that is deeply intellectual, creating work that is precise and arresting. Originally from Chicago, Ramirez is a Professor Emeritus of the UW-Madison.
IMAGE: Daniel P. Ramirez (American, b. 1941) I Sleep, But My Heart Keeps Vigil, 1980, acrylic and graphite on canvas, ca. 96 x 158 in. Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Gift of Diane and Robert Newbury, 2000.91a-c