SUNDAY L.E.S. | Michael Krueger "Peace in the Valley"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The gallery is pleased to present the first New York solo exhibition of drawings by Kansas-based artist Michael Krueger. On display currently in the project space is an installation by New York-based artist Shane Ruth.

Sourcing American history and culture, Michael Krueger’s most recent series of desolate landscapes are populated by signs that bear political, socio-critical and sensationalist slogans, such as ”War is Racist,” “It’s only Rock n’ Roll,” or “God Hates You.” As assemblages of past and present mottos, they establish an equally strange and compelling voice for human thought. Here, worldly concerns of the past and present have been boiled down to illustrative phrases.

Kruger's revisionist drawings incorporate historical events, personal narrative, and comic duplicity that in totality illustrate a "thoughtful reconsidering" of early Kansas history. Focusing upon the time between histories and the conflicting narratives that leave the characters and creatures of history of the American West in limbo, Krueger’s cast of characters often include; the Jayhawks, the Haskell Indian Nations, the Secret Society of the Danites, and the Wakarusa War.

In Monsters that Walk Among Us, the taxidermied collection of hometown naturalist hero Lindsay Lewis Dyche populate a tract of scrubland. Dyche, whose name is not widely known although it graces a building at Kansas University (where Krueger teaches), was described in an 1893 New York Times piece as having “risen to his position…from the estate of a child in the woods, nursed by an Indian squaw, hunting and trapping along the banks of the Waukarusha.” It’s a perfectly American story: the brilliant success of a boy estranged from culture but returning to the bright light of institutionalized education.

Michael Krueger’s colored pencil drawings and lithographs are like the grey area in a white lie. They beat a loosely organized path across history, picking up anecdotes and scraps of local lore along the way. – Nicholas Weist, NY Arts

Michael Krueger (b. Kenosha, WI) lives and works in Lawrence, KS. He received his MFA in Printmaking at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN. He has had solo exhibitions at the OSP Gallery in Boston, MA; The Gallery at the University of Texas at Arlington; and the Lawrence Art Center, Lawrence, KS; among others. In addition he is also the recipient of numerous awards including the Roger Shimomura Research Fund in 2006 and a fellowship from the Kala Art Institute, Print Studio & Media Center, Berkeley, CA. His drawings are included in noteworthy collections such as; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Fogg Museum, Harvard University; Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Estate, Charlottesville, VA; Museo Del Barro, Asunción, Paraguay; the New York Public Library; the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO and the Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. He currently teaches at the University of Kansas as an Associate Professor of Art.

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237 Eldridge Street South Storefront New York, NY 10002 USA		Current Future Past

		Michael Krueger Peace in the Valley December 14, 2007 - January 6, 2008 Reception: Friday, Dec. 14th, 6-9 PM


		FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The gallery is pleased to present the first New York solo exhibition of drawings by Kansas-based artist Michael Krueger. On display currently in the project space is an installation by New York-based artist Shane Ruth. Sourcing American history and culture, Michael Krueger’s most recent series of desolate landscapes are populated by signs that bear political, socio-critical and sensationalist slogans, such as ”War is Racist,” “It’s only Rock n’ Roll,” or “God Hates You.” As assemblages of past and present mottos, they establish an equally strange and compelling voice for human thought. Here, worldly concerns of the past and present have been boiled down to illustrative phrases. Kruger's revisionist drawings incorporate historical events, personal narrative, and comic duplicity that in totality illustrate a "thoughtful reconsidering" of early Kansas history. Focusing upon the time between histories and the conflicting narratives that leave the characters and creatures of history of the American West in limbo, Krueger’s cast of characters often include; the Jayhawks, the Haskell Indian Nations, the Secret Society of the Danites, and the Wakarusa War. In Monsters that Walk Among Us, the taxidermied collection of hometown naturalist hero Lindsay Lewis Dyche populate a tract of scrubland. Dyche, whose name is not widely known although it graces a building at Kansas University (where Krueger teaches), was described in an 1893 New York Times piece as having “risen to his position…from the estate of a child in the woods, nursed by an Indian squaw, hunting and trapping along the banks of the Waukarusha.” It’s a perfectly American story: the brilliant success of a boy estranged from culture but returning to the bright light of institutionalized education. Michael Krueger’s colored pencil drawings and lithographs are like the grey area in a white lie. They beat a loosely organized path across history, picking up anecdotes and scraps of local lore along the way. – Nicholas Weist, NY Arts Michael Krueger (b. Kenosha, WI) lives and works in Lawrence, KS. He received his MFA in Printmaking at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN. He has had solo exhibitions at the OSP Gallery in Boston, MA; The Gallery at the University of Texas at Arlington; and the Lawrence Art Center, Lawrence, KS; among others. In addition he is also the recipient of numerous awards including the Roger Shimomura Research Fund in 2006 and a fellowship from the Kala Art Institute, Print Studio & Media Center, Berkeley, CA. His drawings are included in noteworthy collections such as; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Fogg Museum, Harvard University; Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Estate, Charlottesville, VA; Museo Del Barro, Asunción, Paraguay; the New York Public Library; the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO and the Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. He currently teaches at the University of Kansas as an Associate Professor of Art.