Vondracek releases essay collection linking Minnesota childhood to Redlin's art

Christopher Vondracek drove from Washington, D.C. to Omaha to present his second book, "Redlin or Rodin," to a small group of family and friends at Bookworm Books. The event served as the first stop on a Midwest reading tour for the journalist and essayist. The gathering in the bookstore's corner featured an informal discussion of the work and short readings from the text.

Vondracek’s new volume consists of essays that map specific moments from his childhood in Minnesota against his adult study of painter Terry Redlin. The author moved from Minnesota to South Dakota to complete a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's in literature. By 2020, he was residing in an 800-square-foot apartment in D.C. with his wife, Carrie.

The pandemic closure of his preferred art galleries prompted Vondracek to turn to online archives. He accessed hundreds of digitized Redlin paintings, a shift he credited to digital culture. "And that tripped a wire for me because I wouldn't have had access to those paintings had it not been for, you know, digital culture," Vondracek said. He noted that the technology allowed him to recall scenes from rural Minnesota in the 1980s, a period marked by farm foreclosures and school consolidations.

Redlin is recognized for colorful, dramatically lit depictions of Midwestern landscapes, barns, and homes. His work rarely includes people but features birds such as pheasants and geese. US ART Magazine named him "America's Most Popular Artist" from 1991 to 1998. His art is commonly found on gift shop memorabilia rather than in galleries.

Vondracek interrogated the "kitschyness" of Redlin's choices within his essays. He expressed a complex relationship with the idyllic portraits, acknowledging a tendency to mock stereotyped images of the flat Midwest while appreciating the painter's engagement with the land. "Oftentimes when we are from like a flat place, you know, like Nebraska or southern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota, where it's not considered beautiful, the gesture, the instinct is that we have to make fun of it," Vondracek said.

The author also cited Paul Groucho, who is from southwestern Minnesota, regarding the concept of sublimity. Vondracek quoted Groucho on how grandeur can exist in a wide horizon line or the sky, not just in high mountains. He stated that the manuscript was originally 90,000 words with a primary focus on Redlin. He shortened the text and shifted the focus toward his personal experiences at the request of his editor.