Artist, go to the light

Scores of hometown artists have found themselves cloaked in relative obscurity through what they have found to be a lack of appreciation for their art, and all because they’re “from the neighborhood.” Audiences have been trained to believe that these artists live too close to be, well, any good. Feeling unseen, these artists suffer from what I term the “Invisible Man Syndrome.”

But the cause for angst doesn’t stop here —  an additional layer of misery is reserved for artists who live and work in that dreaded plot of land outside the city’s established cultural borders: the suburbs. So as the big cities set their sites well beyond their hallowed walls, they leave in the shadows more invisible artists. These artists exist in what I can only describe as a “Shadow Land.”

Nearly lost among these shadows is Karel Suchy, musician/composer and founder of Voices & Verses, a loosely formed group of experimental, multi-media artists. But Suchy, along with other Shadow Landers from the Kenosha/Racine area, has decided this big city-imposed invisibility cloak will not hold him back.

Like apparitions on those ghost hunting television shows, he’s conceived of a way for artists to become visible in the midst of complete darkness.

Suchy’s observation that lack of visibility plagues artists around the world has resulted in the global project The Artist Next Door: Graffiti. On Saturday, Dec. 18 at noon in Kenosha (Milwaukee’s own Shadow Land), and at 7:00 p.m. in Kyje, Czech Republic (Prague’s Shadow Land), hidden artists from each place will come together to bring their passion to light.

Appropriately enough, the event will be held simultaneously at Madrigrano Auditorium of Gateway Technical College/Kenosha and the Cultural Center Kviz/Kyje. Kenosha TV, a service of Kenosha Community Media, will stream the program live over the Internet with the assistance of Gateway’s Distance Learning Department and Jeff Bass Productions.

In the manner of M.C. Escher’s complicated lithograph, Relativity, Suchy and about 12 other artists will appear to be both here and in the Czech Republic in this multi-media performance. Visuals and sounds of the collaborative, improvisational performances will bounce back and forth as they’re streamed live on the Internet and interacted with by each group.

With seven hours and an ocean between them, artists from each Shadow Land will collaborate with their group members as well as their counterparts in the light of their respective stages. Yes, this is truly an embodiment of that Escher with figures climbing up and down
stairs that, intertwining unexpectedly, are upside down and right side up at the same time. Holding it all together is Suchy’s unique perspective on the concept, using diverse artists and art forms linked to his simple interpretation of graffiti as a process of imposing one’s will on something that exists — ranging from walls to bodies.

The foundation of this interconnection is relative to his place of birth, Prague, and its St. Vitus Cathedral, both of which embody mixed aesthetics that amazingly and elegantly combine to create a visual texture and richness like nowhere else. Suchy, reflecting Escher’s complexity, has brought together projected images of art and artists, visual and sung poetry interspersed and interpreted by music, acting and dance, both pre-planned and improvised.

Preparation for the Graffiti project has involved hundreds of hours since August, including four events that created its visual basis. Students from the REAL School of Racine Unified School District, mentored by artist/graffiti writer Mario Gonzales, created a mural that is part of the visual projections. Other collaborators include Kenosha Writers Guild authors, Lemon Street Gallery and ArtWorks of Kenosha visual artists, Voices & Verses musicians, RG Productions actors, Gina Laurenzi Dancers, and guitarist Brent Mitchell.

The Artist Next Door :Graffiti is an extension of the multi-disciplinary piece Suchy presented in October based on Nosferatu. Oh, you didn’t hear about it? Well, that makes his point, doesn’t it? But Suchy contends that this is only the beginning of his version of the ghost hunter’s “reveal,” and that the future will see expanded, collaborative performances engaging more overlooked artists as the project travels the globe. Oh, and by the way, the title of the project in Czech is translated “Artist from Attic,” an appropriate place to find ghostly shadows.

So, just as ghost hunters expose invisible specters and mediums assist unseen ghosts in traveling “into the light,” your opportunity to be part of bringing live performers into their own light is coming this Saturday.

The Artist Next Door: Graffiti takes place on Saturday, December 18, 12- 2 p.m.,  at Madrigrano Auditorium of Gateway Technical College (3520 30th Avenue, Kenosha). The performance is free and open to the public. For more information, click here.