Omaha based artist Joseph Broghammer is as much of a storyteller as he is an artist. His one-of-a-kind pastel drawings in “Animals” are chronicles of his life. The creatures Broghammer creates are vehicles to uncover the varying characteristics of the artist’s personal identity.
Hence, Broghammer’s “Animals” translates as a flowing stream of consciousness. The different birds and livestock staring back at the viewer are ornamented with inconographic symbols – small suprises a long the way. These trinkets are keys to understanding the stories Broghammer is sharing.
“My favorite cereal is Lucky Charms, so occasionally yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers will find their way onto the paper,” Broghammer says of his work. “Each piece is a visual diary, a story of my life and what happens around me.
Moreover, Broghammer’s animals seem especially ethereal in the way he manipulates oil pastel to embody a painterly quality. They are his “dry paintings,” as he likes to call them.
Broghammer began mastering his “dry painting” technique during his B.F.A. in Visual Art at the University of South Dakota. He graduated in 1986 and a year later went on to study his M.F.A. at the University of Wisconsin. In 2009, he studied at Creative Capital in Omaha, Nebraska.
As storytellers often do, Broghammer later went on to become an educator himself, teaching at WhyArts? and becoming an Artist Assistant at Vera Mercer in Omaha – both of which he still practices at today.
It’s apparent that Broghammer’s work has resonated with so many people around the world. Only a few years after his formal education, he began exhibiting his work through various International group shows in Italy, Germany, Holland, Mexico and even Kansas City.
Solo Exhibitions:
Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum, Clarinda, Iowa 2018
Garden of the Zodiac Gallery, Omaha, NE 2018
Garden of the Zodiac Gallery, Omaha, NE 2017
Anderson O’Brien Gallery, Omaha, NE 2015
Anderson O’Brien Gallery, Omaha, NE 2012
Argo Gallery, Trento, Italy 2011
The Moving Gallery, Omaha, NE 2010
The Moving Gallery, Omaha, NE 2008
The Moving Gallery, Omaha, NE 2006
Modernartsmidwest, Lincoln, NE 2004
Fluxion Gallery, Omaha, NE 2003
Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, NE 2000
Garden of the Zodiac, Omaha, NE 1998
Haydon Gallery, Lincoln, NE 1996
The Art Gallery, Southwest Michigan College, Dowagiac, MI 1993
Garden of the Zodiac, Omaha, NE 1993
13th Gallery, Omaha, NE 1991
Haymarket Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE 1990
Group Exhibitions:
Round Table 5, Berlin Germany, 2016
Group, Galeria Omar Alonso, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 2016
Maiz, Museo de la Filatelia de Oaxaca, MUFI, Mexico 2016
2 person show, South Dakota Art Museum, South Dakota, 2016
Berlin Art Fair, Berlin Germany, 2015
Maiz, El Museo Latino, Omaha, NE 2015
Small works show, Germany 2015
Berlin Art Fair, Berlin Germany, 2014
Henri Désiré Landru show, Trento Italy, 2014
Garden of the Zodiac, Omaha NE 2014
Bird on a wire, 2 person show with Larry Sosso, Gallery 1510, Omaha, NE 2014
University of Nebraska at Omaha Print Workshop 1976-2010
Museum of Nebraska Art, 2013-2014
Tribute to Landru, Argo Gallery , Trento Italy 2013
Visions of Bosch, The Museum of Instant Images, Holland 2013
Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Germany 2013
2 person show, Norfolk Art Center, Norfolk NE 2013
Freiberg Art Fair, Freiberg Germany 2013
Jeff Freeman: Collaborations in Education, Sioux Falls, SD 2012
Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Germany 2012
River Market Regional Exhibition, Kansas City, MO 2010
Although Broghammer’s portraits depict downy creatures, his work is very much about the human experience. They are honest and full of life, evoking a sincere exchange between artist and viewer. “Animals” is for the animal lovers, students, teachers, collectors, writers, the young or old, and art historians alike.
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