Portrait Society

Portrait Society Show Packs Emotional Punch 
Todd Mrozinski 

The featured artists are Thomas Haneman, M. Winston, and Ted Brusbardis.   Mrozinski walks us through the Portrait Society Gallery using an illuminating descriptive manner, having us as viewers engage in an intimate manner with works of art and their creators.

The first works are that are reviewed are still lives done by Thomas Haneman. These paintings have a highly saturated palate. Haneman uses acrylics and begins by painting the entire composition in white over the background color. “By doing this, when applying vibrant hues in transparent layers, the white intensifies the color by acting as a reflector under the transparent, stained-glass like paint.” They are made with intense transparent color and in combination with exotic compositions with plants doing what plants should never be able to do. Vines and stems wind around each other and still barely touch one another. He works both from observations of nature and from memory when he is piecing these lively compositions together.
In each case we are given insight into the artist's personal life. This artist had problems with depression now that he has gotten the right meds things seem to be going well.

The intimacy is detailed by Mr. Mrozinski as he describes M. Winston House’s painted watercolors that are 1 1/2 square. These pieces are all uniformly framed in black, they are all abstractions that are reminiscent of landscape. All these sensitively done abstractions are being done as he serves a six-year sentence with Wisconsin Department of Corrections. This paints a picture of the meditative quality that would go into working in a prison environment on items of such a demur scale.

​In describing Ted Brusubardis’ piece, “Lietus in 3 Movements” Mrozinski describes walking into the room and how he is affected by what he sees, the emptiness of the room. Sets the stage for is description of the video work. It is in the largest of the galleries are two screens with video depicting two figures. The video is of the artist's son playing a piece of music he wrote on a piano. In the next scene the grandfather responds with his own musical adaptation in response. Finally, they perform a duet. The video is juxtaposition of live action and slow-motion sequences. A lot of attention is paid to the appreciative relationship between the two. The work is about the transformative power of art. The artist’s description of the relationship between his father and his son moves our author to tears.