The painting "Parking Ramp Number Two" by Paul Marlow has been chosen by the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art for the exhibit "Midwest Summer: Light and Warmth", opening June 6, 2015. Katherine Kunau, Associate Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the CRMA announced that work from 40 artists were chosen, out of a total of 264 works of art submitted for the exhibition. "We were pleased with the enthusiastic response," said Ms. Kunau.
A parking ramp undergoing demolition is the subject of the painting, with a view of downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the background.
During the summer of 2011, the City of Cedar Rapids demolished the first parking ramp ever built in the city. After removing the parking structure, only the 1950's era corkscrew ramp remained. The structure took on a sculptural quality, and people visited the site to photograph it. The ramp was left standing for a couple of weeks until it, too, was demolished. The painting was started in 2011, and finished in 2012.
According to the CRMA, this exciting exhibition presents recent work by many of Iowa’s best-known artists. Juried by Kate Kunau, the CRMA’s new Associate Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, each participating artist lives in the state of Iowa. The works in the exhibition were created during the past three years and present a wide range of style and media.
The theme, Midwest Summer: Light and Warmth, allows the artists to address aspects of summer that appeals to the senses in any manner from representational to abstract. The exhibition may pair a work representing the golden light of a summer evening with one evoking the steamy mugginess of a lazy August day. The origin of this exhibition was a desire on the CRMA’s part to continue its successful series of presentations of Iowa artists, integrating group and solo exhibitions of Iowa artists into the exhibition schedule and folding Iowa art into its presentations of American art.
Midwest Summer: Light and Warmth is a testament to the number of talented artists in Iowa and the CRMA plans to continue this success with other themed calls for entries, carrying on the 100+ year tradition of supporting the arts in the local and regional community.
This exhibition is made possible by Rockwell Collins, the Program Grant Fund of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, members of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and contributors to the Museum’s Annual Fund.
Midwest Summer: Light and Warmth runs from June 6 through September 13, 2015.
Watertower (Sunrise, 7:15 am, 9:00 am, October 11, 2011) Oil on Canvas. 24 in. x 48 in. (72 in. x 48 in. tryptic)
Ironically, "Parking Ramp Number Two" was a last-minute choice for entry in this exhibition. I had planned to submit "Into the West", but I decided that the painting did not fit the 'light and warmth' parameter of the exhibit. Plus, the parking ramp was unique—the light and shape of it was fascinating. I also submitted "Sunlight in a Coffee Shop" and the Watertower Tryptic.
"Into The West" Oil on Canvas. 36 in. x 36 in.
Ms. Kunau, who chose all of the work to be shown in the exhibition, was very complimentary. She said, "I really liked all three of your paintings you submitted, but this one (Parking Ramp Number Two) was my favorite." Ms. Kunau added that the ramp had a "Jetsons-like" quality, referring to the animated series set in a city of the future.
I am not a big fan of parking ramps. Generally speaking, I think they are some of the least aesthetically-pleasing subjects imaginable. But I felt the need to paint this one. Maybe it was because this particular parking ramp was coming down, and it had architectural appeal. Designed in the 1950's, the ramp captured a feeling of post-war optimism and modernist style. Growing up near Cedar Rapids, I remember seeing this cool ramp curving over the east bank of the Cedar River my entire life. As a kid, I imagined skate-boarding down that cork-screw on an early Saturday morning. So it was with some nostalgia that I made it the subject of a painting.
Maybe I have a thing for downtown Cedar Rapids. When I was in first grade, I drew a picture of the city, and it featured a building with the lighted "MNB" sign on top, for Merchants National Bank. That bank eventually became US Bank, and I included that sign in the painting.
So subject-wise, it seems I've come full circle!
Personally, I am thrilled to have one of my works chosen to be in this exhibition. I am looking forward to the Opening on June 6, and rubbing elbows with some of Iowa's best artists.