“Catch the 22”: local artists embrace paradox in 2022

The Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) is pleased to celebrate the final month of “Catch the 22,” the nonprofit arts organization’s first exhibition of 2022, running until March 20, 2022 at the MARN ART + CULTURE HUB.

The exhibition’s title is a play on the popular phrase “catch-22,” which describes a situation where the rules or expectations one is meant to follow are contradictory.

To celebrate the final month of “Catch the 22” and the 104 artists who made the exhibition possible, MARN will host two panel discussions and a closing reception. The first panel will take us behind the scenes of how the exhibition came to be, and will take place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 3. The second panel will focus on how their individual exhibited works tie into the current exhibition’s theme, and how they strive to “Catch the 22” this year. This panel discussion will take place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 10. RSVP and more information here.

The exhibition’s closing reception will be held on Saturday, March 19 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the MARN ART + CULTURE HUB.

A cohort of 104 works were selected that together encapsulate a feeling of being trapped in a web of contradictions but nevertheless striving to break free. Artists tell these stories of resolve in the midst of confusion through sculpture, photography, fibers, video, painting, drawing, printmaking, encaustic, digital media, mosaic and mixed-media.

MARN Gallery Director Riley Niemack described her intention for the exhibition to harken to feelings of being caught between expectations that people may be feeling right this moment – existing in a state of “limbo” while still attempting to push forward.

“The reference to the year 2022 within a title that evokes feelings of paradox and confusion was intentional” said Niemack. “I wanted works that asked visitors to reflect on how they may currently be feeling stuck between contradicting rules and expectations.”

“Catch the 22” is hosted at the MARN ART + CULTURE HUB, located at 191 N. Broadway on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland, where the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present. More information about the MARN ART + CULTURE HUB can be found here.

The MARN ART + CULTURE HUB is the home of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to increasing the visibility and marketability of Milwaukee and Greater Milwaukee-area artists since 2002. More information about the organization can be found here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.