The Regrettable Truth of the Cliché

Minneapolis artist, Christopher Rowley, an adjunct professor at St. Cloud State University, is the next featured artist with Susan Hensel Gallery. 

The exhibition, The Regrettable Truth of  the Cliché , is a show of paintings often using traditional rug-making and embroidery techniques, to explore both a formal and content-driven relationship with contemporary abstraction. The artist is currently focused on developing abstractions that are derived from, and related to, mechanical components and piping constructs. 

Director Susan Hensel discovered the work at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair, giving Christopher Rowley an award for his superbly rug hooked piece Two Fingers and Some Cornbread, pictured above. "The use of devalued craft techniques to make sculptural and decorative objects is remarkable, " she says. "The artist employs the  techniques of rug-hooking and embroidery,  often in combination with paint, to create new, rich, pictures-as-objects, walking a fine line between painting and sculpture. His training in graphic design is apparent in his crisp compositions that he chooses to skew just off square, drawing our eyes back to the vibrant colors and compositions over and over again."

Born and raised in the twin cities, Rowlely originally went to school for graphic design, but left school to have a family. After the kids were old enough he went back to school and completed his BFA in 2D media . He immediately continued his education, attaining an MFA in Painting and Drawing.

The full exhibition,The Regrettable Truth of  the Cliché , opens online May 15 at www.artsy.net/susan-hensel-gallery. Portions of the show will be available for public viewing 24 hours per day in the shop windows of Susan Hensel Gallery, 3441 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN.