When Pranav Sood arrived in Madison from his native Punjab, India, he looked for a place to live with one priority in mind: It had to be near an art museum.

So Sood, a painter and new MFA student in the UW-Madison Art Department, settled into a Downtown apartment just half a block away from the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Admission is free, so he could drop in anytime. And he hoped to network with other artists and learn more about the American art scene there.

Little did Sood know that less than three years later his own work would be on a MMOCA gallery wall.

Sood is one of 32 artists or artist collectives with Wisconsin connections featured in the upcoming 2019 Wisconsin Triennial. Opening at MMOCA, 227 State St., with a special evening at 6 p.m. Friday and running through Feb. 16, the prestigious Triennial showcases some of the state’s top talents in the visual arts.

Hundreds of artists applied for the show. Seventy were selected for in-person studio visits by MMOCA curators. The 32 chosen for the exhibition range in age from their early 20s to their 70s — emerging talents as well as long-established artists.

“There’s a lot of new names and exciting pieces” in the 2019 Triennial, said Leah Kolb, MMOCA curator of exhibitions. And the artists — selected for not only their skill level and the statements they make with their work, but also for their diverse backgrounds and artistic styles — also create a snapshot of what is happening in the broader contemporary art world.

“I think what’s happening on the state level is indicative of what’s happening nationally,” Kolb said.

Read more at the Wisconsin State Journal