Vesna Kittelson’s work has been defined by issues around her being an immigrant, traveler and a painter. Consequently, her art mines a range of themes from pure abstraction to war art to portraits.
YOUNG AMERICANS is an open-ended project consisting of portraits of young people ages 20-30. Kittelson is interested in young people because they abandon old ideas about identity in contemporary America and replace them with tolerance for each other’s differences. They do it with admirable and believable ease. She continues to be fascinated by young people’s attitude toward self definition, love and politics.
Young Americans is on view in the Fisch Gallery through January 3, 2021.
About the Artist
Vesna Kittelson was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina (of Croatian descent) – who became a naturalized American. She has lived between Split, Croatia; Cambridge, England; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was an original member of the feminist WARM Gallery (Women Art Registry of Minnesota); she taught at MCAD for many years; and she was a founding member of the Traffic Zone Center for Visual Arts where she holds a studio. She was a member of the co-op Gallery Form and Content Gallery in Minneapolis from 2013 – 2019.
Purchase Synthesis (2020), the retrospective catalog of Kittelson’s work through WAM Shop. Email wamshop@umn.edu to buy your copy today!
Above image: Installation view at of Young Americans at WAM. Photo by Rik Sferra.
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