527 Madison Avenue is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings by Roland Kulla in the Lobby Gallery from July 17 – November 27, 2019. Located at 54th Street and Madison Avenue, the show is open to the public 9 AM – 5 PM, Monday through Friday. This will be the sixteenth exhibition in 527 Madison’s ongoing program showcasing noteworthy emerging and mid-career artists.
The exhibition features six of Kulla’s photo-realist paintings, which depict detailed renderings of New York City’s many beloved bridges. Fascinated by engineering and the built environment, Kulla began examining and painting the bridges of his native Chicago in 1998, and subsequently expanded his oeuvre to other “bridge cities,” such as Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, and Berlin. Reflecting on what these bridges tell about their builders and the human experience, he abstracts the structural elements from their context and renders them in a way that highlights their monumentality and the creative thought inherent in their production.
Of his first solo exhibition in New York at George Billis Gallery, Maureen Mullarkey of The New York Sun said, “He is interested solely in the structural dynamism of bridge forms and the functional splendor inherent in their components: trusses, bolts, girders, railings, arches, beams, struts, ties and cables. His hard-edged paint handling is as austere and rigorous as his subject.”
Transitioning to painting from a 30-year career as a social worker, Kulla holds a BA from Bellarmine University and an MA from the University of Chicago. He has shown his paintings in numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally including solo exhibitions in Chicago, New York, Boston, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Maryland and Berlin. His work has been featured in publications such as American Art Collector and New American Paintings. Roland Kulla is represented by George Billis Gallery in New York.
This exhibition is presented in partnership with George Billis Gallery.