Return to Function

Return to Function brings together contemporary artists who make functional objects that are simultaneously subversive and useful. Ranging from vehicles to clothes to mobile studio units, works in the exhibition dissolve the established line between fine art and applied arts. Main galleries. more >>

Curators’ Choice: New Works from MMoCA’s Collection
Every year, works enter MMoCA ’s collection reflecting new stylistic tendencies and artistic directions. Curators’ Choice: New Works from MMoCA’s Collection presents selected works that have entered the collection in the last three years.
State Street Gallery. more >>

An Art of Inner Necessity:  Expressionist Works from
MMoCA's Permanent Collection

An Art of Inner Necessity examines the expressionist tradition in modern and contemporary art through paintings and works on paper from MMoCA's permanent collection. Henry Street Gallery. more >>

Art Fair on the Square— How-to-Collect Breakfast, 8-9:15 am
Best Western Inn on the Park • 22 South Carroll Street, Capitol Square
Anyone interested in learning how to build an art collection can attend the Edition MMoCA how-to-collect breakfast and presentation by Margaret LeMay on art fair collecting strategies for building a personal collection. RSVP by Wednesday, July 8 to Leah Kolb, 608.257.0158 x221 or leah@mmoca.org. Free for Edition MMoCA members;
$15 for non-members. more >>

Art Fair on the Square
Saturday, July 11 • 9 am-6 pm
Sunday, July 12 • 10 am-5 pm
Art Fair on the Square has become central to summers in Madison. It is also the most important annual fundraiser for the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, supporting the museum’s free exhibitions and education programs. more >>

From Nature: Realist Works in MMoCA's Permanent Collection
The exhibition is the last in a three-part series of exhibitions that surveys the major styles of modernism in the visual arts. Abstract and expressionist styles, previously examined in the series, have little precedent in western art. A modern realist style, however, has evolved as a series of personal elaborations on the Renaissance tradition. Although based upon perceptual observations of the world, with the artist “working from nature,” modernist realism distinguishes itself from past practice. The artist may, for example, simplify detail, create irrational juxtapositions to produce a “magic realism,” or derive works from the sharp-focused realism of photographs.

First Fridays at MMoCA, 5:30-8 pm
Settle in for a night of good music and good company as we embrace the lazy days of the season. $5 admission | Free for MMoCA members. more >>

First Fridays At MMoCA, 5:30-8 pm
Caravan Gypsy Swing helps MMoCA bid summer farewell with their vintage jazz standards and “hot swing” originals. In the galleries, don’t miss From Nature, a new exhibition of realist works from the permanent collection, on view in the Henry Street Gallery. more >>

Signs of the Times: Robert Rauschenberg's America
Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008), who came to prominence in the 1950s, was one of the great American artists of our time. As a painter, sculptor, and printmaker, he drew his subject matter from the everyday world. In the style of collage, he juxtaposed and overlapped actual objects and fragments derived from photographs, newspaper clippings, and magazines­often bound together by the artist’s gestural brushwork­to create kaleidoscopic works of art. The provocative collisions of images and ideas were layered in their meanings and mirrored the energetic rhythms and contradictions of modern life. Signs of the Times: Robert Rauschenberg's America presents 59 lithographs and screenprints from three major print series created from 1968 to 1970.

First Fridays At MMoCA, 5:30-8 pm
The Nob Hill Boys round out the rooftop season with their award-winning “high-lonesome” brand of bluegrass. In the galleries, don’t miss Signs of the Times: Robert Rauschenberg’s America, a retrospective of the artist’s prints from the tumultuous late 1960s. At 6:30 pm, UW-Madison Professor Jeff Smith will talk in the galleries about Rauschenberg’s print series Reels (B+C), which draws heavily from the classic film Bonnie and Clyde. more >>

Gallery Night, 5-9 pm
Organized twice annually by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Gallery Night offers a unique opportunity to meet artists where they make and/or exhibit their work. Museums, galleries and other businesses throughout the city will participate, treating visitors to receptions, tours, demonstrations and more. more >>

Arts Ball
Save the date for a festive evening in support of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Madison Symphony Orchestra. more >>

Holiday Art Fair
A long Madison tradition, Holiday Art Fair provides shoppers an opportunity to purchase unique, handcrafted gifts from artists in a stunning architectural space.