DuMA Biennial 2023
June 17 - October 8, 2023
Sponsored by
Overview
Welcome to the tenth edition of the DuMA Biennial, an exhibition founded in 2003 as a competitive, open-call opportunity for established and emerging artists in the heart of the Midwest.
The ethos of the Biennial is to reflect a moment in time, celebrate regional talent, and continue to build an artistic community. The selected works this year were chosen by juror Pamela Caserta Hugdahl (Executive Director of the Rochester Art Center) from a wide field of over 500 submissions. Hugdahl has assembled a survey that reflects the prominent styles, themes, and range of media she found. The exhibition features contemporary painting, sculpture, furniture, photography and more.
Through the works on view, digital content, and programs, the DuMA Biennial explores how the enormous changes in our social, cultural, and political environment emerge in the art created today by the artists among us.
Featured Artists
About the Juror
Pamela Caserta Hugdahl has been the executive director of the Rochester Art Center since June 2020, following positions at the Port Washington-Saukville Arts Council in Port Washington, Wisconsin; the Cedarburg Art Museum in Cedarburg, Wisconsin; and more than thirteen years at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, a hotbed of contemporary artistic practice. At the Rochester Art Center, Hugdahl has encouraged a robust and divergent slate of exhibitions that have included Homecoming Queen, which featured the garments of RuPaul’s Drag Race sensation Utica Queen; The Human Scale, guest curated by Hair + Nails Gallery of Minneapolis; and Walk With Us, co-curated by Zoe Cinel and John Schuerman. She has also brought the Rochester Art Center in as a partner with Franconia Sculpture Park on the 4Ground Midwest Land Art Biennial. Over the course of her career, she has worked with such notable contemporary artists as Della Wells, Pedro Reyes, David Bowen, Danh Vo, and Cindy Sherman.
Juror's Statement
“An astounding 543 works of art in virtually every media—from quilting to digital arts—by 176 artists were submitted to the DuMA Biennial 2023. I wanted to represent as many different artists as I could, but the artworks have to fit into DuMA’s galleries, so I had to be judicious about the number (and sizes!) of works I could select. I was surprised to see similar themes emerge so strongly from such a wide and broad group of artists: the interconnectedness of all things, focus on the environment, conscious and subconscious references to puzzles, and the topics of labor and toil. There were also quite a few works that referenced or rely on electricity, which seemed unusual. The inspiring submissions demonstrated a broad range of ideas, themes, and media coming out of the region, which I believe will come through strongly in this year’s Biennial."
Congratulations to the 2023 prize winners
Inaugural Collection Prize - David Zahn
David Zahn of Moline, IL was awarded the inaugural Collection Prize. His cast aluminum sculpture, Symmetry, will be purchased for DuMA’s permanent collection with funds raised at the Collector’s Preview on June 16.
Originally from Chicago, Zahn’s work can be seen publicly in recent installations in West Des Moines, Muscatine, and Little Rock.
First-Place Prize - Peter Xiao
Peter Xiao’s painting, Rumor Tree with Lightning, was awarded the first-place prize by 2023 juror Pamela Hugdahl. The Bettendorf painter took home a cash prize of $1200.
This is the third time that Xiao has been seen at DuMA. Peter had a solo exhibition at the Old Jail Gallery in 1995 and was in the first DuMA Biennial in 2003. He is currently working on an installation for the Figge Art Museum.
Second-Place Prize: Lauren Venable
Second prize went to Lauren Venable for her charcoal, Us. Venable is currently pursuing her BFA at Loyola in Chicago and was previously seen in the DuMA Biennial 2021.
Third Place Prize - Steve Sinner
Third place went to Steve Sinner—of Bettendorf—for his turned wood piece, #1072.
Sinner had a solo exhibition at DuMA in 2006 and his Class of ’60 – Faded Memories was purchased for the permanent collection after DuMA’s first Biennial in 2003.
