Pierre Renee

Give Me a Break

Wake up all you elitists! While you are enjoying a pizza at Riverfront Pizzeria on Erie Street, look around at the photographs and see if you can figure out who “Pierre Renee” is… ask your waitperson about the work on the walls, most of it in the small rooms adjacent to the bar area.

Gee whiz, I’ve never heard of Pierre Renee, have you? Is he a bona-fide photographer or just some chap with a camera who likes to click click? There’s an 800 number attached to the frames so you can call and find out more should you care enough.

Here’s a clue or two: In a recent Milwaukee Magazine article, writer Tom Bamberger raised some issues about the Breakwater condo on Prospect Avenue. Shortly thereafter, a “newsletter” began circulating in virtual space, ostensibly sent from the offices of the architect who brought Breakwater to town. It questioned Bamberger’s “credentials,” and slammed Bamberger’s photographs as not “appropriate for the Breakwater.” But that was a bit beside the point. Read on.

So gee whiz, you have to ask yourself, would Pierre Renee’s photographs be more appropriate? They’re pretty awful, but well, go to the pizza place and decide for yourself if big blowsy images would best fit with the big blowsy Breakwater designed by ?????

If you’re still in the dark, then so be it. Do you know who Renee is? The answer is hilarious, or so says I.