Arts & Culture
A Poem As Lovely As A Tree
The economic crash has hit the world big time, and the world of art is no exception. I found quite a bit of comfort at Dean Jensen Gallery where Joan Backes’ work is on display until November 22. Stroll to the back of the long narrow space and stand in front of her video, “Oak Tree, One Year (2008).” It’s eleven minutes of heaven, as if you were on her property in Massachusetts observing the seasonal changes of a magnificent oak The oak is the state tree of Iowa from whence I hail and there are far fewer now than when I was a kid and sat beneath their leafy confines. For $1,000 the eleven minutes could be mine to take home, just in case the dreaded wilt wipes away the last of the greats. This filmmaking is art at its finest. It marks time, puts the world in perspective, and for delicious moments, made this viewer forget all else. If you are a “tree hugger type,” don’t go to the gallery with expectations of great and grand environmental statements. Her work is subtle; it suggests rather than insists. A trio of trees from 2008 (each referencing New England), are painted on panels, but they are slices of trunks, minutely detailed, and up close the details become wonderful miniature landscapes. Rising 8’ skyward and varying in width, they define the gallery’s entrance and introduce further depictions of trees, including one from this state, “Tree, Wisconsin (2004).” Fifteen photographs make it clear that Backes is multi-talented and determined to explore trees in all their glory. The concept is anything but ordinary. Paper, the by-product of trees, carries her point home, or rather to the “Newspaper House,” a cube for entering. Constructed of diverse folded squares of global newspapers, it is the center piece of the exhibition and is an inside/outside experience, every child-adult’s dream of a magical place perfect for the ultimate escape. I found myself reading the snippets of folded squares (obsessively) plastering the exterior: “the stock market took a beating last week,” “stand-up comedy in America is not, for the most part….,” and (gruesomely), “the deeper sores may have…” The house wears a skin of words (too many to absorb), but inside the sanctum waits another world of tiny dioramas, not unlike those in natural history museums. ”Elm” (light, vellum, laser and hand cut paper 2008), memorializes the elms that were struck down by disease in the 50s & 60s, not only in Milwaukee, but across our nation. They’ve all disappeared in my hometown, but I remember those lofty citadels that shaded our streets, sheltered the birds, and gave substance to each and every day. When they died, time didn’t stop, but it sure did change. The leaves will be gone or clogging our gutters when Jensen Gallery launches their answer to the economic downturn. “Big, Big Bangs/Small, Small Bucks” opens December 5 thru January 24 in the year 2009. Nothing will be priced over $750, and (at this […]
Nov 20th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Cheese or Pepperoni?
Just kidding. The former pizza joint on 15th & Farwell (east side of street) will reopen in mid-January ’09, not as another pizza or tattoo parlor, but as Green Gallery East, brought to you steaming hot by gallerist/artist Riepenhoff who knows how to serve up a satisfying slice of art. The debut event will feature the work of David Robbins, described online as “international,” and a former laborer at the Andy Warhol Factory. He’s more than that, so I’m looking forward to his show. The modest modernist structure Green is re-doing had slipped into severe disrepair, so hey, on the street that developer Boris Gokhman (New Land Enterprises) is holding hostage, an art gallery sure trumps a tanning spa and yet another soaring condo. Across Farwell is the Pasta Tree, and to the north, the fab Maharaja eatery, the Beehive Beauty Salon, and well, a few blocks north of that is Brady Street itself, and even further north, the invova/Kenilworth art mecca. Did I mention “Mr. Shoe?” He’s a neighbor of Green East too. I’m hard pressed to think of a better location for an art adventure. Stroll out my front door, round the corner and there it is, in all of its one-story glory. Because it’s a former drive-up place, the parking should be adequate. This is after all, the eastside where tempers rise during the on-going battle of who gets what. Hoof it, bus it, bike it. We’ll be in a new year with a new president when the gallery opens. Suddenly 2009 seems downright hopeful. Galleries come and go, but Riepenhoff & his youthful crew have devoted fans. It will be interesting to see who actually visits the space, set in a diverse area of the well-heeled and down-in-the-heels, and all points in between. Imagining that uber-condo types will experience it, is a bit of a stretch, but perhaps they’ll stretch their minds and consider something other than boring pretty pictures for their walls, put in place by interior designers who don’t have a clue what art is. One Riepenhoff idea that I hope doesn’t go away, is his “Riepenhoff experience,” a wonderful tree-house style small installation. Climbing up the ladder and peering in, is, in a word, sensational.
Nov 20th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Here Pussy, Pussy
Gene Evans made the AV section of the Onion’s August 21-27 edition. You may recall he’s the co-proprietor of Luckystar Studio, formerly of Vliet St. Bridget Griffith Evans, the far nicer and more talented of the two, is moving with her grouchy spouse to a new location on Mitchell St., where they will concentrate on their respective careers. In the Q&A Onion interview, Evans says “They (i.e., artists he has to deal with) can be such pussies,” and goes on to grouse that “they can be prima donnas,” and then adds the words “demanding,” and other snippets indicating he hates being in an art kitchen populated with pussies. Well, this is hardly news. Evans is known for his complaints, though at times, he and Mike Brenner seem to be wrestling for media coverage. That said, Brenner takes the hot cakes when it comes to who sez what, besides which, he’s currently working on his MBA at UWM. After getting lots of media space by claiming they’ll never ever run another gallery, Gene & Bridget were open for October Gallery Night @ their Mitchell St. digs. These two have been around town, that’s for sure. Look for their work to pop up almost anywhere.
Nov 19th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
‘Memba This?
Possibly the last remaining Art Muscle t-shirt in M’waukee? Born at 9th & National in the days when we had a great big beautiful art publication, this shirt is from “Fruit Of The Loom.” At one time, AM’s shirt inventory included long-sleeved versions. Art Muscle also sold pocket protectors, buttons and coffee mugs, and oh yeah, the shirt was available in black with white letters, or white with black letters. Just so you know. Wearing one of these t’s meant you were with it, hip & hot. A fellow blogger wrote that he’d personally order four, if only they were currently available. Actually he bought the last remaining t-shirt before AM closed their doors. “I’d have driven 50 miles to get one,” he admits, though it’s unclear if he still has his. If anyone out there still has an ART MUSCLE shirt, write Stella Cretek pleeze. In the meantime, you might want to consider a Vital Source t. To wear one is to be hip & hot.
Nov 19th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
You Say Potato, I Say Potatoe
A few years ago when Whole Foods sprung up on the west end of North Avenue, their PR person put out a call for local artists. What this usually means when a new business materializes, is that artists are expected to hang their work for free. It’s a kind of art-as-wallpaper concept. Anyway, Mike Brenner (the former proprietor of Hotcakes Gallery) took the bait and arranged for a bona-fide exhibit of his gallery artists. They failed to pass muster with the powers that be, i.e. Whole Foods deemed the work a bad fit for their particular product. Susceptibletoimages.com picked up on the story and ran with it. What a difference a few years make. Recently, while shopping for things I don’t need, a group of paintings caught my eye as I was about to take the down escalator to the parking garage. Most folks would never know they were there, tucked in a dead-end corner just beyond a display case hawking hemp hats and plastic water bottles. They looked quite a bit like paintings Mike Brenner might have had in his defunct gallery, though of far lesser quality. In any event, they weren’t paintings of organic tomatoes and green peppers. The tag near the grouping identified them as the work of someone in the store, a “Team” member, who perhaps was laboring in the frozen food department. I couldn’t make sense of the artist’s name, but I swear it translated from Spanish into something akin to “Devil Lobster.” I could be wrong. Okay, so I’m near the parking garage downstairs and a pea-green “Call for Artists” poster catches my attention. It promises the artists that thousands of people monthly would view the artwork, that there would be an opening reception catered by Whole Foods’ in-store chef, and that the exhibit would be promoted in the monthly calendar, etc. It didn’t identify the three areas where the artists would have their work displayed, but I’d seen one of the areas and believe me it wasn’t exactly a high-traffic zone. I was the only one there, and that was sheer coincidence. Artists who want to take this bait can pick up an application at the store’s Customer Service desk or online at www.wholefoodsmarket.com. Just imagine how a show at Whole Foods would look on your resume. It’s not everyone that gets to exhibit near bunches of asparagus and heaps of organic fruit. Oh, I forget to mention that the exhibit opportunities include a chance to sell your pieces directly to the customers as they rush by. On the fun side of life: A late October sign on the inside of a door at the downtown M & I Bank advises: For security reasons, please remove your Halloween mask before entering the bank.
Nov 18th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Blog Meat
In continuing an explanation about the meat of blogs, I’ve been re-reading the November issue of the Atlantic, specifically, Andrew Sullivan’s “Why I Blog.” There’s more online at www.theatlantic.com/blogging. The secret seems to be links, Duh. I’ve been clueless. The other big deal clue is “if you don’t paddle, you’re dead in the blog waters.” Or something like that. This suggests that genuine bloggers, blog at least once daily, and often twice or more, and whoa! there’s a whole generation running around that have never written anything other than blogs, a frightening thought for one who really actually truly believes that writing is way beyond blogging. That said, I’m including a link to Milwaukee artist Tom Kovacich, http://www.thomaskovacich.com. He exhibits at Gallery 218, is a modernist, and from that standpoint, would seem a nice fit for blogging which Sullivan describes as postmodern communication. In a recent email he commented that he had read Judith Ann Moriarty’s vitalsourcemag.com feature about MAM’s Act/React exhibit, and also Dem Bones take on art critics. He sent me a fruit basket as a reminder.
Nov 12th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Artsy
www.artsyschmartsy.com Go there, then pick up the forthcoming (soon!) issue of INFO magazine, for a feature about artsy, a chap who wears cheaters and is learning about art. Interviewed by Judith Ann Moriarty in her digs overlooking splendid Milwaukee, Schmartsy reveals himself fully. Let Stella hear if you like it. As I write, susceptibletoimages.com seems to be down, but by the time you read this, hopefully it will be up. Who’s making paintings these days worth viewing? Tom Kovacich. kovacich@earthlink.net. See them at Gallery 218. Photographs? Kevin Miyazaki at inova/Kenilworth. Sculptures? Bernini, but he’s dead. Should VS have a sex column, or is sex dead? Can’t seem to locate Nikol Knows which was featured online at Milwaukee Magazine .Oh well, great sex usually doesn’t last forever anyway. I’m thinking of running a blog about “condo rules.” Some of them are hilarious. Here’s one:” If your doggie pees or poops on the elevator carpet, perhaps it needs diapers. It is not the job of the concierge to clean up what doggie does.”
Nov 12th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Blogging For Naught?
Maybe I don’t get it, don’t quite understand blogging and the point of it. The November Atlantic has a fine feature (Why I Blog), which explains the author’s take on blogging. I still don’t get it, even though he calls it “writing out loud,” and seems to think it beats regular writing with editors breathing down his neck. I’m beginning to think that I’m lost in blog land. It’s been around for a decade and the field is pretty crowded. Is there a secret that successful bloggers use to get attention? Nastier writing? Wildly controversial content? Or does one have to be a star? Should I cut back on my blog postings? Should I escalate my postings? Reinvent my persona? I’ve written hundreds of blogwords, and only received two comments: one was from fellow VS blogger Bobrow and the other you can read about in my “The Big Louse” posting in Dem Bones. I never go to blogs other than the VS blogs. Maybe that’s the problem. IS that the problem? Do successful bloggers spread themselves all over the place? Do they advertise in hardcopy publications? Do I even care? I guess I do, or I wouldn’t be blogging on about it. Frankly, the most fun I have with “Dem Bones” is digging up fun images from Wikimedia. Perhaps people are actually reading my blog and are too busy to comment. Or too lazy. Or too blogged-out. Perhaps the blog craze is reaching the bottom of the word-well.
Nov 11th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Shameless Shirt-Tailing
I’m going to be in Kansas City in December and plan to stroll over to the Kansas City Art Institute to see “Political Persuasion” Street Posters for Barack Obama.” The posters are from the private collection of a professor at the Institute. It’s near the splendid Nelson Gallery of Art (with a splendid new addition described by Paul Goldberger of the New Yorker magazine as the best museum addition of this decade). A few blocks away is the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. MAM’s current executive director, Daniel Keegan, was in charge there prior to his California sojourn. Interior, Steven Holl addition, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City People imagine K.C. as a big cow town, and yes, at one time it was home to some impressive stockyards, but it’s way more than that these days. The Missouri river rambles through downtown, a downtown gripped in the condo craze, but also the site of the revival of a number of old venues. I’ll be Amtrak-ing there via the Hiawatha to Chicago and then on to the Southwest Chief for a ride across Iowa and south to Missouri. Seven hours and twenty cups of bad coffee and I’ll be in the grand old Union Station, and directly across from Liberty Memorial Hill where 175,000 Obama fans rallied recently. Like all cities, K.C. has some really bad public art and some awful galleries with awful art: schmoozy florals, cowboys on horses, big eyed kittens, etc. The Nelson will certainly be on my list of places to view art worth viewing, and the new addition features contemporary art, plus a Noguchi sculpture garden. The landscaping surrounding the building was designed by Mr. Kiley, who also designed the gardens at MAM, as well as the Chestnut Grove adjacent to the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Exterior, Steven Holl addition, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City
Nov 10th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
The Big Louse (Pl. lice)
I’m not going to give the louse who commented to my “Big Snooze” blog much space except to say thank heavens for the “Details” section that allowed me to track down the perpetrator. The lousy comments had nothing to do with my blog content (about a day at the Milwaukee Ballet), but instead was a rant about drug use. Eureka, I traced it back to a site that sells booklets on “How to Pass A Drug Test.” Oddly, it came from Sand Point, Idaho, where Sarah Palin grew up. I spent a week in that town, enroute to Seattle, on the trail of a louse-lawyer who screwed me out of quite a bit of money. It was a useless trip as the attorney I consulted in Seattle told me it would cost me greatly to chase the creep and get my $$$$ back Ah yes, Stella was a fool back then, but the trip wasn’t a total bust. I did get to visit the Pacific Rim, and (in Montana) was stopped by a cop who advised me not to be hot footing it across the countryside at night. Those were the days when Montana had no speed limit. In the pursuit of art, I’ve included a decent line-drawing of a louse. Just so you know.
Nov 7th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
November Fifth
Up in the morning; out on the trail. Actually Prospect Avenue was the former route of Sauk Indians, but yesterday, November 4, 2008, it’s treked by people headed to the Charles Allis Museum to vote. By 7:30AM, I turn around and head home because no way am I fighting that line. The sun was splendid, so instead, I sat on the south facing balcony and read the New Yorker’s cartoon issue. R. Crumb & company have a few pages poking fun at their family reunion in Minnesota. One of the drawings shows them waiting for a train in Columbus, Wisconsin. Hey, since when does a train run through Columbus? Below the balcony, a U.S. Navy destroyer has parked on the rim of the lake and cars are unloading people eager to see the latest in weaponry. Bob Barr, a Libertarian, remarked that we live in a cartoon world, and it seems he’s right. Pundits are already busy yapping about whether Obama will swing to the far left when he takes office. He won’t, but it’s a frightening thought. President O will be busy enough trying to unscramble the global mess. Even with a tsunami of Democrats in the Senate, I’m betting it will be a year before anything substantial is accomplished. I’m greatly offended by non-thinkers who rush forward to gush, “never in my lifetime, or even in my kid’s lifetime, did I think a black man would be elected to the office of the President.” This smacks of reverse racism, all schmoozy and woozy. Much to the disgust of my Republican family, I wrote in former Nebraska senator, Chuck Hagel, a friend of McCain’s who is likely to join Obama as Secretary of State. I decided to do so, shortly after reading a feature about him in the New Yorker.
Nov 5th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Sometimes A Donut Is Just A Donut
This morning on my way to Schwartz on Downer, I stopped in at the Obama headquarters and helped myself to a plain old unfrosted old-fashioned donut. The workers were busy firing up the troops for the final days of the world’s longest presidential election. On the north wall, a large portrait of Obama (resembling a Chuck Close painting), stood guard over the laptops and walls plastered with directions, instructions, phone numbers, blah, blah. I strolled around eating my donut trying to decide who I was going to cast my vote for on November 4. Earlier in the day, I drove by the Zeidler building in hopes of finding a parking spot to cast an early vote. No luck, but no problem either. On November 4th I have only to walk a few blocks north of where I live, and vote at the lovely Charles Allis Museum. The good news on Downer Avenue, is that the huge Gokhman parking structure has decided to get rid of the puke-green accent on the front of the building. In fact, it looks like the whole paint job has been changed. It’s much better….quieter in understated shades of ivory and white. The bad news is that Lixx is for sale, and well, Downer was spookily quiet, almost deserted. That section needs help big time. A block north, things are much livelier. It was quiet at Schwartz too, but they had my copy of Mishima’s “After the Banquet” ready to take home. There’s an air of tension everywhere this week, or is it just me? When you set your clocks back on November 2, you had a whole extra hour to feel tense. For many voters, the choice of our next president will be clear. Me? I’m still in a fog. The donut I ate weighs heavily as I write.
Nov 4th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
