Chazen Museum of Art Presents: The Compendium

The Chazen Museum of Art will debut the museum expansion to the public with the ambitious
quadrennial faculty art show, The Compendium.
By Alex Rodriquez
From February 4 to April 1, the Chazen Museum of Art presents the Compendium, a survey-style art
show featuring artworks completed over the past year by current and former faculty, and affiliates of
the UW-Madison Art Department. Featured every four years since 1974, the Compendium (meaning
summary) intends to give the community a closer look at the faculty artists and is consistently one
of the largest shows the Chazen exhibits.
Its a sort of a snapshot of the breadth and range of the department right now, said Tom Loeser,
chair of the UW-Madison art department and UW professor of art since 1999. The faculty considers
it a really important exhibition. Its really our best opportunity to showcase ourselves to the rest of
the campus. We want them to have a sense of what is going on in the art department.
The exhibit commences amidst the unveiling of the newest wing of the Chazen Museum. The $43
million, 86,000-square-foot addition will serve as the new home for the art show. The expansion,
featuring enormous, wide-open spaces, can accommodate larger works and will allow the artists to
curate more pieces for their collection. This years Compendium is expected to be the largest yet.
A lot of people will be coming partly to see the show and partly to see the new museum. Because
of the new Chazen the faculty really pushed themselves out into some new territory, Prof. Loeser
said.
The 31 current, full-time faculty members within the art department are the main contributors to the
exhibit, but the spotlight falls on the few new faculty members who will be participating in the exhibit
for the first time. The Compendium gives the new faculty members a space to debut their body of
work to colleagues, students and the public.

The exhibit also encourages artists featured in past shows to explore new mediums. Throughout
past iterations of the Compendium, artists have experimented with a variety of unusual mediums,
like an artist last year who gave brave patrons real tattoos of their art. All the participating artists will
display pieces composed using various forms of media and many artists collections will showcase
mixed media art.
The faculty were very ambitious in the scale and scope of the projects they put in, Prof. Loeser
said.
Russell Panczenko, the director of the Chazen Museum, says the Compendium is not only a look
into development of art and an exploration of new mediums in the UW Art Department, but also a
look into the ever-evolving national art scene.
Every week artists featured in the Compendium exhibit will give 40-minute talks on their featured art,
providing insight into their techniques, inspirations, and how their works reflect or reject the current
national art landscape. After the talks, museumgoers will have the opportunity to discuss the works
with the artists and other guests.
Those who organized and contributed to this years incarnation of the Compendium are excited
about the public reception. Prof. Loeser is one of many who have high hopes for the success of the
event: Since Ive been here, I think this one is the going to be the best show.