Jerry Rudquist: A Life’s Work

It is one of life’s mordant ironies that Macalester art professor Rudquist, who often painted skulls, would pass away in 2001 of brain cancer. But Rudquist had a streak of mordancy himself, expressed in such comments as “Bone, of any species, is an extraordinarily beautiful material.” This overview of his career does show the more buoyant side of his creativity as well, but the centerpieces are those images of death to which he returned throughout his career. The six-by-nine-foot “Great Skull” is arresting by itself, but more interesting is his “Must We Always Expect War” series. Executed over a 40-year span, it explores the human penchant for brutality through the repeated re-imagining of a monstrous, distorted bony head, reminiscent of Francis Bacon’s screaming popes. Rudquist’s paintings are rooted in Renaissance ideas, but his bold and unexpected color choices put his personal stamp on the work. Janet Wallace Fine Art Center Gallery, (651) 696-6279, www.macalester.edu/art