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“When Creative Expression Causes Controversy”
By Brooke Steiner “The Unsung Hero,” a mural created by Andres con Chrzanowski adorns the north side of the Dye House building at 320 E. Buffalo St. in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. In a highly realistic the painting depicts the form of a working-class woman. What might be unusual is that the painting does not depict the woman’s head as it runs off the top of the building. The painting represents working class women of the past and of the present. Some people think that it is points at how poorly women are treated around the world. The writer Steiner discusses how controversy has played a part in artworks role in society. She discusses how writer Molly Snyder wrote about how a mural of Selena done by Mauricio Ramirez on a 5th Street building in Milwaukee. Molly Snyder referred to Selena as the “Madonna of Milwaukee” in her review. Some people find that offensive and self she was forced to write a retraction. “This was a learning experience through art for me. I want to do better.” said Steiner. Controversy in art was seen in 1917 at the Armory Show when French American artist Marcel Duchamp created a piece called “Fountain.” “Fountain” is a urinal that has been turned on its back on its pedestal. One of Duchamp’s found objects. Duchamp felt that art was like a mirage, but it is a solid mirage. It alludes to a greater reality. Another example of a controversial artist would be Heather Minoque who is working on a campaign called “Every Freedom Needs a Fighter addressing censorship in Hong Kong. Controversies are not constant in that something that is controversial today may not have been controversial in the past and vice versus. Ideas change and art changes with it. The final example is produced by Amy Lunde uses traditional needlepoint work to express ideas about difficult topics like health problems. Her work is found controversial because as she is expressing her thoughts on pain, other people might think that she does not have it so bad. Art has the capacity to change society, though it might take a while to accomplish.
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OnMilwaukee
These buildings were demolished for soulless surface parking spaces Story and design: Jason McDowell These buildings were demolished for soulless surface parking spaces In his blog published on the OnMilwaukee website Jason McDowell does an excellent job of arguing for historic and aesthetic considerations to be included in city planning. He is raising the conscience of those who he might touch via his written word. He has been affected by a specific cultural impoverishment. Was it that seeing the devastation seemed senseless? There was a perfectly good building and now there is nothing? He is witness to the destruction of countless cultural landmarks. McDowell has taken the time to research the effects of replacing buildings with parking lots and has gotten expert witnesses for their educated opinion. The expert witnesses being two professors from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Robert Greenstreet, Professor of Architecture and Dean of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Arijit Sen, Associate Professor of Architecture. Jason McDowell is taking a stance for a heightened set of historic and aesthetic values relative to the demolition of older buildings merely for the sake of providing surface parking lots. Historic buildings are razed for any number of reasons, some more honorable than others, such as forces of nature, or simply being in the way up in new, exciting, project, or — most unfortunately — poor stewardship and decay. Some of the buildings that have been demolished are as follows: YMCA, 610 North Jackson St. YWCA, 626 North Jackson St. U.S. Appraisers Store, 628 E. Michigan St. These three buildings were in the shadow of the US Bank building. Greenstreet believes, “there is only so much retail a city can provide. You don’t want a building that mostly remains empty,” so the key is finding creative ways to keep activity on the ground floor. Sen believes density also enhances privacy. “Visual control is a policing thing. When you have all these open spaces, the city becomes a panopticon, where you can see everything all at once.” Downtown Tire Center, 830 N. Van Buren St. People think that Milwaukee has a parking problem. McDowell thinks Milwaukee has a parking perception problem. People want to park for free and do not perceive the economic loss in eliminating buildings for the sake of parking. 767 N. Van Buren St. 773 N. Van Buren St. Sometimes classic buildings are demolished for ideas are bigger and better, sometimes buildings are destroyed for the parking lot that can be next door to their building. Greenstreet: “A parking garage cost six times more than a surface lot, and it’s 13 times more expensive to build underground. Milwaukee parking fees are relatively cheap compared to the surrounding area, so there is not a strong economic incentive.” 795 N. Van Buren St. McDowell argues that a flat parking lot is like a hole in a city. It reveals flat undesigned alleyways behind it. It also reveals the sides of buildings that have not been given architectural consideration. The sides of these buildings are plain and undecorated. Sen says, “You don’t want to live in a world where you can see everything. Life is better with surprises.” McDowell: “Installing freeways through big cities was a destructive process, razing entire swaths of land. This literally pave the way for more cars, which literally means paving the way for more parking, which further destroys the city's history.” The 800 block of Mason and Wells Sen: “A parking lot is nobodies' territory. This is why we are scared of parking lots at night. They allow people to come in and take over.” The Norman Flats, 626 W. Wisconsin Ave. The Princess Theater, 738 N. Old World Third Street William Frankfurth Hardware Store, 300 W. Juneau Ave. Portrait Society Show Packs Emotional Punch
Todd Mrozinski The featured artists are Thomas Haneman, M. Winston, and Ted Brusbardis. Mrozinski walks us through the Portrait Society Gallery using an illuminating descriptive manner, having us as viewers engage in an intimate manner with works of art and their creators. The first works are that are reviewed are still lives done by Thomas Haneman. These paintings have a highly saturated palate. Haneman uses acrylics and begins by painting the entire composition in white over the background color. “By doing this, when applying vibrant hues in transparent layers, the white intensifies the color by acting as a reflector under the transparent, stained-glass like paint.” They are made with intense transparent color and in combination with exotic compositions with plants doing what plants should never be able to do. Vines and stems wind around each other and still barely touch one another. He works both from observations of nature and from memory when he is piecing these lively compositions together. In each case we are given insight into the artist's personal life. This artist had problems with depression now that he has gotten the right meds things seem to be going well. The intimacy is detailed by Mr. Mrozinski as he describes M. Winston House’s painted watercolors that are 1 1/2 square. These pieces are all uniformly framed in black, they are all abstractions that are reminiscent of landscape. All these sensitively done abstractions are being done as he serves a six-year sentence with Wisconsin Department of Corrections. This paints a picture of the meditative quality that would go into working in a prison environment on items of such a demur scale. In describing Ted Brusubardis’ piece, “Lietus in 3 Movements” Mrozinski describes walking into the room and how he is affected by what he sees, the emptiness of the room. Sets the stage for is description of the video work. It is in the largest of the galleries are two screens with video depicting two figures. The video is of the artist's son playing a piece of music he wrote on a piano. In the next scene the grandfather responds with his own musical adaptation in response. Finally, they perform a duet. The video is juxtaposition of live action and slow-motion sequences. A lot of attention is paid to the appreciative relationship between the two. The work is about the transformative power of art. The artist’s description of the relationship between his father and his son moves our author to tears. The Power of Great Paintings
Todd Mrozinski Todd Mrozinski Reviews the Phillips collection from Washington DC as it is exhibited at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The show is entitled “A Modern Vision: European Masterworks from the Phillips Collection.” Mr. Todd Mrozinski has an interesting way of describing the works of art in his blogs. He is knowledgeable about the subject of art, and he goes to great lengths in adding information about how the work is produced. Textured would be a term that I could use to describe his writing style. He is not afraid to express his emotional take on things. Henry Fantin-Latour is represented with the still life of a small group of peaches painted 150 years ago. Sitting right next to it is another still life painting with plums by Jean-Simeon Chardin. This painting is quite atmospheric and landscape like. “The use of hard and soft edges gives this masterfully painted scene its atmosphere. “The haziness of the vase contour behind the sharpness of the peach creates space like a distant mountain range on a foggy day.” The use of landscape to describe how a still life is accomplished is an effective way of setting the scenario. Berthe Morisot paints a scene with two girls in an interior space. She uses unconventional means to move paint around with rags rubbing it with your fingers or applying it with paintbrush. We have a visceral description of how this painting was created. You can almost feel the paint sliding around under your hand. “Self Portrait” from 1878-80 is not so much painted as massaged. It is a self anointed portrait which seems to have been built with his thumbs. The clay-like paint is pushed, smeared, and built like the mountain, Mount Sainte-Victoire, that he would paint over 60 times in his life. Paul Cezanne represented with a self-portrait. The painting seems more sculpted than painted as piles of paint are moved around to bring out the finished form of this portrait, like a cubist version. Cezanne also has a still life called “Ginger Pot with Pomegranate and Pears.” Describing the work as feeling like a lump of clay that has been formed by the artist’s hands goes a long way toward describing the physicality that the painting is giving off. Mrozinski lends us his senses through his description, letting us feel as if we are standing in front of this Cezanne. Pierre Bonnard Uses his wife as a model in an outdoor setting entitled the palm. The painter handles the materials by slathering, smearing, dripping, glazing, and scraping to show a glow of the exterior at dusk and illumination of an interior space. His visceral description of the paint handling allows us to feel the depth of the paint surface. We feel the depth of the paint surface and we are irradiated by the light emanating from the surface of this canvas. Chaim Soutine paints “The Pheasant which is I still life of a dead peasant on a white cloth. The canvas becomes a casket and the paint, applied with stunning directness, becomes the internal organs. Paint handling described as creating “internal organs” accomplishes much toward giving the subject a very visceral feel. Mrozinski is describing Soutine’s very physically brutal, but sophisticated manner of handling paint. OnMilwaukee
Easy to navigate tabs Articles, events, neighborhoods, placed, guides, shopping, partners, we can preview weekly short articles about daily events Social media links present Link to live Twitter page shows online media presence. “Mayor Barrett Nominated as US Ambassador to Luxembourg” By Matt Mueller culture editor Mayor Barrett has been the mayor of Milwaukee since 2004 video on Luxembourg: https://www.onmilwaukee.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw8g_1VEEL8&t=701s https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/mayor-barrett-ambassador-luxembourg Shepherd Express Shepherd Express is still is maintaining the look of the printed newspaper. Very local orientation in content. Helpful tabs for cultural exploration “Flirting with the surreal in Hawthorn Contemporary’s” “Where the Eyes Fail” Visual arts critique by Shane McAdams Chance encounters with the objective visible universe, and the moments it misses, unifies the works of Daniel McCullough and Maeve Jackson in a two-person photographic exhibition. Jackson’s work focuses on portraiture, but just before or just after the person has gotten ready to pose. Small photograph entitled Mermaid captures a woman treading water in a costume struggling to locate buoyancy. Daniel McCullough’s untitled piece featuring two human hands covered and butterflies is compositionally unusual: delicate and tender, but and its cinematic color and disembodied hands hint at something slightly sinister-somewhere between Kyle McLaughlin’s hands in Blue Velvet and Johnny Depp’s in Edward Scissorhands. https://shepherdexpress.com https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/visual-art Urban Milwaukee Looks like coverage on local issues in the news. Good art critical pieces. “A Party Amidst a Pandemic” By Brendan Murphy, October 27, 2020 A former drawing instructor that I studied under at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Mark Mulhern, is critiqued by Brendan Murphy at Tori Folliard Art Gallery. 50 years working career 35 Paintings and Drawings Monotypes and sketches Colorful abstractions that are very playful and cheerful https://urbanmilwaukee.com https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2020/10/27/visual-art-a-party-amidst-a-pandemic/ Milwaukee Magazine Great writing Great local coverage “Look Inside Sheboygan’s New Art Preserve” By Lindsay Anderson Rios Investigation into the Sheboygan facility honoring the legacy of Ruth DeYoung Kohler, who died in November at age 79. John Michael Kohler Arts Center was run by Ruth DeYoung Kohler directed the institution for more than 40 years. She promoted artists who created works that they lived in. The collection that she is put together focuses on vernacular art some might call it outsider art. One of the installations is a full-size tavern built by Fred Smith. Fred lived in Phillips, Wisconsin in the 50s and built the bar and ran it. Fred liked to do his own version of folk art that he installed in the bar. This is just one example of Ruth’s interests. She collected from people who transformed their own homes or possessions or environments into “idiosyncratic works of art that they lived in or with.” https://www.milwaukeemag.com https://www.milwaukeemag.com/look-inside-sheboygans-new-art-preserve/ Art Net Great writing Global coverage “Elizabeth Neel grew up painting with her famous grandmother. Now, her new abstractions are getting attention in New York in London” Alice Neel was a figurative painter who lived between January 28, 1900, and October 13, 1984. Her paintings were expressionist portraits with the use of line, color, shape, and form to place special focus on the psychology of the maker and the sitter. When her granddaughter was eight years old Alice gave her first set of oil paints, a Winsor & Newton paint box. Elizabeth and her grandmother had a close relationship, with her grandmother insisting on being called Alice instead of grandmother. Elizabeth Neal went to college for art at the School of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. Lately, she has been working on developing two solo shows. “Arms Now Legs'' is currently at her New York gallery Salon 94; it can be seen between June 30 and August 27, 2021. “Limb After Limb” will be exhibited at Pilar Corrias in London; September 16 to October 23, 2021. You might describe Elizabeth Neel’s work as being abstract and expressionistic in nature with large portions of the bare canvas still exposed behind her bravado painting style. The brushwork traces the movement of her entire body working across the canvas. http://www.artnet.com https://news.artnet.com/art-world/elizabeth-neel-new-gallery-shows-new-york-london-1998639 Bibliography Royal Brevväxling https://www.instagram.com/celestazuchitl.arte/?hl=en http://www.criticalwork.org/ https://onmilwaukee.com/ Royal Brevväxling https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/dont-you-forget-about-me-bougies Favorite Artists https://www.johnfleissner.com/ https://www.instagram.com/chris_burke_tattoos/?hl=en https://scoutgallerymke.com/ OnMilwaukee
Review of On Milwaukee 2019 MIAD Student Work https://onmilwaukee.com/search?phrase=miad Review of Tattoo Shops “Positronic Tattoo combines art, community and quality work” By Oli Dodd, Published Dec 19, 2019 at 6:03 PM Lennox Lange and Todd Gnacinski have big plans for the Sherwood based tattoo shop. Both grew up in Wisconsin and are former MIAD students. Positronic Tattoo, 1918 East Capitol Dr. Is a retro-futuristic tattoo and piercing shop nestled between few other the shops in Sherwood. In four years since it opened Positron it has proven itself to be a friendly, clean environment to get tattoos and piercings. The owner, Todd Gnacinski, is a Milwaukee Institute of Art Design graduate and has been in the tattoo industry for eight years. His work is reflective of his drawing style, meaning more illustrative and expressive compared to traditional style tattooing. Lennox Lange is Gnacinski’s former apprentice. “I’ve been at the shop since 2018 and professionally tattooing since the start of 2019.” Lange is currently working on getting illustrative portrait and black work style tattoos. Examples of their work are displayed in the tattoo shop. Gnacinski says that running a shop is different than being a solo freelance artist and that there are more responsibilities. Keeping the shop supplied and doing the accounting are responsibilities that need to be taken care of. Interpersonal issues have to be dealt with which is not always fun, but necessary. Gnacinski’s style ranges from science fiction, fantasy novels, comic book art particularly artists like David McKean, NC Wyeth, and David Mack. Lange’s Aspirations run from Yoshitaka Amano, Kuni Fukai, Patrick Nagel, Aubrey Beardsley, and Edward Gorey’s cat illustrations. MIAD affected both artists in a positive way. Gnacinski received a lot of guidance from Tom Noffsinger who pointed out directions through classical art that were an influence. Lange is interested and having an impact and a city in a community-based way. “I’d really like to find a way to benefit the Milwaukee queer community, but I’m not sure how I can do that yet.” Gnacinski, “I want to be more involved in the general art scene.” “It would be really cool to integrate that into the shop somehow. Not by being a gallery, but having some art show nights or art-based events here and there. It’ll be cool to have gallery night for artist whose are different from what they tattoo.” https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/miad-series-positronic “Adambomb owner proves permanence of tattoo shops” By Alejandro DeAnda, Published Dec 15, 2019 at 5:03 PM Adam Werther was one of the first artists to open a tattoo shop – called Adambomb Gallerie – after the service became legal in Milwaukee in 1998. "Since the time MTV started showing tattoos on television with shows like ‘Inked’ (2005-2006) and ‘L.A. Ink’ (2007-2011) there’s been this momentum happening," says Werther, a Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) alumni, who graduated in 1997 with a BFA in sculpture. "I happened to catch that momentum." The momentum created huge success in Werther’s career early on, especially in the mid-2000s when there weren’t many tattoo artists around. He was driven by ambition, and passion, to become one of the greatest tattoo artists in Milwaukee. "When I first started tattooing, I was all about being the best and at the time there were a few amazing artists moving the industry along," says Werther. "I remember buying every single tattoo magazine that came out every month. I cut out all the ones I liked. I would laminate them and put them all in a binder. Then I would go through and get inspired by them, using them as drawing references. I called it my Bible." "At one point I had four other artists," says Werther. "It was myself, Lane Turowski, Kurt Halsey Frederiksen, Laurent Marin and Scott Lee working at my shop. We peaked, and we were booked out. I never got booked solid like big artists who book years in advance, but all my artists were booked solid for like six months. Now they all have their own tattoo shops." Now Adam finds the market has become saturated with tattoo artists and tattoo shops. He’s looking for the next venue whether that be a change of location or venue. He considers putting work in galleries or moving to Madison. He has faced many challenges, but has remained resilient. "I was told, ‘oh, you were given a gift,’" says Werther. "I think to myself, 'if I was given any gift of anything, it was persistence in the constant face of failure.'" I met Adam when I curated for Saint John’s Uihlein Peters Gallery in the year 2000. I had considered doing an exhibition of his work, which was quite impressive. It is nice to see alternative methods of producing artwork. More stories on: Adam Werther, adambomb, tattoo, miad series https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/miad-series-adam-werther Write up thoughts from in-class discussion. (Save links, etc., as references for your analysis / responses to the cultural and entertainment websites we discussed.
My peers and I are getting our proverbial feet wet acquainting with the various websites. Looking at these websites as works of art and offering critical viewpoints will take some practice. I began my review looking at the Visual Arts reporting, as I am comfortable there and it holds my interest. Really there was not an article written that I did not glean something from. The comments made by my classmates to be well informed. They seemed comfortable focusing on aspects of design, referring to color, layout and how well organized, the amount of advertising, continuous scrolling, color, and imagery familiar to Milwaukee, puzzles and games and classic newspaper layouts, top menu bar on the Shepherd Express is particularly useful. Lots of text with images cutting it up. The demeanor of the writing, whether it be laid-back, unprofessional, sarcastic, human interest, professional, unapologetically liberal, Milwaukee Magazine is fun and playful. Nice stories that are not super opinionated. Vogue is sexy, they involve their audience more. They (Shepherd Express) have personal ads, still. To find like-minded people. On Milwaukee is more enjoyable to look at because they are not as intense. The targeted audience was referred to: older crowd, queer, drag, family, youth, cannabis, subscriber, broader appeal rather than a local issue, something for everyone, political and social activism articles, grassroots, wishes they were more diversity. The content of the articles: hard news, queer, entertainment, drag, discrimination, alternative, Art Kumbalek wrote quirky Milwaukee observations, political and social activism articles, grassroots, local history (Highbury Pub), Fringe Fest, Milwaukee neighborhood news sources, arts, entertainment, music, food, and drink. How the various websites might be funded: subscriber funding, funding from advertising. Reading the content from the entire class and arranging it in the proto-paragraphs did help me to be able to focus on the various aspects of the content, technique, intent, and context. Write up thoughts from in-class discussion. (Save links, etc., as references for your analysis / responses to the cultural and entertainment websites we discussed.
Synchronous Class meeting Alexis Blog tab on podcast tab: MKE record Anna Milwaukee record - sarcastic, laid-back, unprofessional, entertainment Royal The onion is more for entertainment and not hard news. MKE record was begun by a writer for the onion. Care Richardson Milwaukee mag was the only one that had any queer oriented articles. Drag videos. Cannabis articles. Royal Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has depended on its subscriber base for funding through all of the 20th century. Therefore, they might seem to have a different approach than the rest of the blog sites. Erin Gray On Milwaukee uses color and imagery that is familiar to Milwaukee. Continuous scroll. Top 10 rooftop patios to visit. Urban Milwaukee was targeting an older audience. Article: Family files complaint for discrimination discrimination against native student Royal On Milwaukee tries to write for a broader appeal rather than a local issue. Urban Milwaukee is one of the younger online news sites. The columnist position at a news organization was a sought after position traditionally. Simon Arpin Shepherd express had a table for puzzles and games. Royal Classic layout. Shepherd express is an alternative weekly. They have personal ads still. To find like-minded people. Art Kumbalek wrote quirky Milwaukee observations. Taj Pollard Shepherd Express Something for everyone. Political and social activism articles. Grassroots. Royal The shepherd express is unapologetically liberal. Alternative weeklies have that liberal band to them no matter where they are in the country. Pay walls suck. Julia Callahan On Milwaukee is more enjoyable to look at because they’re not as intense. Article: “Don’t you forget about me” it’s about the Highbury pub. Hengyu Wang Very informative articles on all of the websites. Article on peaches in on Milwaukee. Jordan Willert Technical problems. Shepherd express, on Milwaukee, vulture. Top menu bar on the shepherd Xpress is very useful. Lots of text with images cutting it up. Juliana Dutcher Milwaukee magazine is fun and playful. Nice stories that are not super opinionated. Article: Fringe fest. Performing arts musical bands. Willem Dafoe will show up for Fringe fest. Very feel good. Kohl Mandeau Did most of the work on the article some sounds. On Milwaukee article; odd duck 500 words. A lot of articles are outsourced. Royal Milwaukee neighborhood news sources. Articles are written with a lead at the beginning and then the rest of the article is designed to fill in information. Madison whitehead All the articles are short and sweet into the point. Green building on Riverwalk built with mass timber. She is concerned for the aesthetics and whether it will match the older buildings in Milwaukee. Summer in Milwaukee in Milwaukee magazine. Royal Milwaukee neighborhood news service and the biz times Jeramey Jannene author Olivia Lorber On Milwaukee Article: oriental theater restoration Lynden sculpture garden Rachel Foyer Articles: On Milwaukee and Shepherd Express Personal. History is covered minimally in a good way. Royal Narrative history. Reese Rousseau Vanity Fair A good example of using a classic newspaper style and retrofitting it to an online website. urban Milwaukee is bare bones. Article Vanity fair: Eric Clapton put out an anti-vaccination song. Ryan story I think a lot of guy on Milwaukee had a lot of guides. Article on shoes Vogue sexy. Involve their audience more. Taylor Baum Guides On Milwaukee The whole thing looks like an ad Milwaukee record. She wishes they were more diversity Willard Kolstad Good notes Royal On Milwaukee. Search menu type in MIAD. Read and report on MIAD students articles in on Milwaukee. Complete sentences organized in paragraphs hyperlinks. |
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