Around Town With Bones

Milwaukee’s icon, Bob Watt, is 84! And who deserves it more than this Beat poet and painter/sculptor? I mean, it’s an honor to live long enough to be dissed by Pegi Taylor, local art nay-sayer. Jimmy Von Milwaukee hosted a party at his loft (complete with performance art and poetry) for Watt, and down from Manitowoc drove Johny Shimon & Julie Lindemann to capture a few moments. You can see a few of them at their Flickr site, but being photographed and celebrated by Johny & Julie is a big deal, for J & J are photographers of renown, recently having a great retrospective of their work aired at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Stella herself has been photographed by J & J, memorably so when photographed wearing a Packer helmet while sitting on Watt’s ample lap.

The closing of Nicholas Grider’s “Men In Suits” exhibit brought lots of ogglers to floor five of the Marshall Building. Crammed into the Portrait Gallery’s two small rooms, and spilling out into the narrow hall, many of the visitors were subjects in Grider’s ‘Men” photographs, so it wasn’t unusual to see Peter Goldberg standing in front of his portrait, holding his stomach in, just like he did for the photograph. Other celebs included others portrayed: Kyle Cherek, Skip Forest, Joe Pabst, and a host of manly men. Three women agreed to be included in the project wall grid. Deb Brehmer produced a slick mini-catalog for the event, and they sold like hotcakes for $15.00. The gallery is open Friday/Saturdays from 1-4pm. Next up? Tender Is The Line. Seven artists & the art of drawing.

Allegedly, Wisconsin Visual Artists (formerly known as Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors), is NOT moving on to floor two of the Marshall Building, but Phylis Toburen is exiting from floor one, just so you know. And isn’t it sweet that Bill Delind Gallery is newly installed at Geo.Watt’s emporium, in the space formerly occupied by pots and pans?

Michelle Grabner's silverpoint drawings.

As I’ve written in prior posts, I can see Green Gallery East from my condo digs. Michelle Grabner’s silverpoint drawings are newly installed, along with a sensational Guest Mobile. It’s hard to believe that this place was recently a dump of a former defunct pizza joint. The smaller “back room” has two Jose Lerma “paintings”(earth mixed with acrylic base), and a whiz of an installation consisting of (to my mind) something creepy concerning the Spanish Inquisition. It’s brilliant. Lerma gave up law school in Madison to become an artist. Lucky for us.

Green Gallery East