Kalamazoo Institute of Arts: Poetry of Content: Five Contemporary Representational Artists

With more than 40 years as a painter and art professor at Syracuse University, Jerome Witkin has been a champion of representation. Poetry of Content is his examination and celebration of artists who share his interest. The exhibition celebrates realist painting styles that reflect classical drawing and painting techniques with five artists who continue to “hone to perfection a body of work that I feel will last beyond our time”: Bill Murphy, Gillian Pederson-Krag, Joel Sheesley, Tim Lowly, and Robert Birmelin.

He writes, “With a few exceptions, there appears to be little interest in recognizable pictures that incorporate a realistic visual space, modelled figures and natural surroundings. The exhibition title, Poetry and Content describes what I think the public and student artists will discover when they examine the works by these mature creators. Unlike the great majority of the art world’s ‘favorites,’ these five share their poetry with us. They continue, regardless of the neglect of museums and critics, to persevere.”