Mary Lou Zelazny About the Artist Mary Lou Zelazny studied painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she has been Adjunct Professor since 1990. She has had numerous solo exhibitions since 1980, with an upcoming exhibition of work at the new Sullivan Gallery, Chicago, Bucheon Gallery in San Francisco, and recent solo shows at the Union League Club and at Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, IL. Numerous other one person exhibitions have been held at distinguished art venues: The Herron Gallery, Indianapolis, IUN Gallery for Contemporary Art, Indiana University, Thomas McCormick Gallery, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Roy Boyd Gallery, Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago Cultural Center and the Rockford Art Museum. Recent group exhibitions include the National Museum of Szczecin in Poland; Aaron Packer Gallery, Jean Albano Gallery, University of Illinois Gallery 400, Lake Forest College and Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago; Barrister’s Gallery in New Orleans’ and the Indiana University Fine Arts Gallery, Bloomington Indiana, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and The Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago. Titles of some shows indicate some of Ms. Zelazny’s interests: “Evoking Histories/Memory of Water,” “Pasted On, a Survey of Collage Strategies,” “The Velvet Show,” “Pink,” “Revelries,” “Views of a Lady,” “Pleasure (Beyond Guilt),” and, especially, “Visual Feasting.” Ms. Zelazny’s paintings present the figure in various guises and are absorbed in and by various cultural associations familiar to women such as jewelry and handbags. Rich drapery and folds of fabric reminiscent of John Singer Sargent seduce the viewer of her work. Her frequent use of collage both calls attention to surfaces and presents unique hybrids. Always lush, her recent paintings tend to be about painting itself, even while they present the figure. Ms. Zelazny has been a visiting artist at various colleges and universities. Her work is owned by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, First Chicago Bank, Kemper National Insurance Company, Nagin and Associates in Miami, Prudential Insurance Company, the Rockford Art Museum, Weichman and Associates, and the McCormick Place West public art collection. Her work also appears in numerous private collections. Artist Statement I have been making paintings with collage for the past 20 years. The spontaneity of collage combined with the rigors of painting and drawing create multiple meanings whose sorting and unraveling drives the content. My subjects are improvisations and it is here where my humor, discomfort, incomprehension, and pleasure can coexist. This indirect method appeals to me because of the unpredictability and technical demands that it presents. The fusion of photographic images and paint generates tensions within the vocabulary of picture making which in turn becomes a further source of motivation and inspiration. Art history's endless examples of visual translation offer me a rich encyclopedia of visual forms upon which I improvise and reflect. Visit the artist’s web site at: http://www.artic.edu/~mzelaz/html/