Steven & Billy Blaise Dufala, Long Runner, 2009. – Photo: Courtesy Fleisher Ollman Gallery, Pennsylvania
Art tickles in a playful exhibition
What’s the difference between an art museum and a comedy club? Metaphorically speaking, maybe not much, considering the current exhibition at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. “A Sense of Humor,” which runs through Sept. 26, showcases over 20 artists in a cavalcade of works that play on strange juxtapositions, witty words and pictures, plus the playfulness and poignancy of the modern condition.
One can imagine the curator as MC, arranging the show to keep the contrasts in artistic style and sense of humor energized. The organization of the gallery space disguises the scope of the exhibition and allows for some genuine surprises.
One of the most memorable sculptures is “Meet Mr. Weekend,” a sock puppet by Mike Simi. It is about 15-feet tall, and it talks. That alone sounds pretty funny, but Simi adeptly mixes comedy with tragedy. The armature under the sock is a piece of machinery from a shuttered Chrysler plant in Michigan. The sock puppet laments his loss and muses about the future, which could include eating some art. Go figure.
Sock puppets lend themselves well to humor, and so do body parts, which show up frequently in various works. Jeffu Warmouth organizes grocery store shelves stocked with self-referential goods like cans of “Forked Tongue” and “Peeled Toes,” in addition to less physical ingredients like “Crushed Resolve” and “Bruised Ego.” Quotations of body parts and unexpected poses are rather poetic in the photographs of Matt Stuart, whose street images recall the exquisite French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.
John Michael Kohler Arts Center. “A Sense of Humor”Artwatch
When you head to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, you might want to make a full day of it. This week, I discovered an amazing restaurant that has been in the downtown area for five years but somehow eluded my culinary radar. Margaux, 821 N. Eighth Street, is owned by chef Rob Hurrie, who previously served as executive chef at Blackwolf Run in Kohler.
Margaux offers a contemporary, relaxed environment (clean, open, airy) with outstanding food and wine. Often, these kind of ambitious restaurants in smallish cities try way too hard and end up serving overly fussy foods that are meant to impress, but lack artisanal soul. This place seems to have both heart and good food politics embedded in its offerings. Hurrie is committed to locally grown ingredients (they partner with an organic farm) as well as a seasonal menu.
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Margaux, HaggertyArtwatch
The current show at Dean Jensen Gallery opens with two women lounging. One is a drawing of a young woman with her legs thrown over the arm of a rococo loveseat. She wears a bright red unitard and her endless, braided hair wraps around her like a frame, defining her space. The other is a photograph of a mature woman lying on her side on a bed. She wears a ballet costume and a far-off expression that looks to the long past. This combination of youthful sexuality and nostalgic experience set up the joint exhibition of artists Claire Stigliani and Susan Worsham, on view through Sept. 4.
Artwatch: Claire Stigliani, Susan Worsham at Dean Jensen Gallery
The lobby of the Iron Horse Hotel seems calibrated to define and deliver a pleasant air of testosterone. – Photo: Art Elkon
Iron Horse Hotel nails
the masculine aesthetic
In the Renaissance, as Italian society was rapidly changing, a diplomat, Baldassare Castiglione, wrote a treatise called “The Book of the Courtier” (1513-1518). In it he tried to categorize the new ideal of manhood or l’uomo universale. He recommended middle height, solid build, “shapely of limb,” light and supple, good wrestling skills, tennis, sportsmanship, fitness, education, knowledge of Latin and Greek. A man must speak and write well, draw, play an instrument. The ideal man should be calm and “a play of the eyes shall give an effect of grace.”
Iron Horse Hotel nails the masculine aesthetic
From the portfolio “My German Trip,” by Warrington Colescott, 1992.
Drag contest, burlesque show kick off MAM After Dark season
Milwaukee Art Museum kicks off its MAM After Dark season with Moulin MAM, a night of entertainment that pays homage to the life and work of Wisconsin artist Warrington Colescott, America’s premier satirical printmaker. The evening includes a burlesque show by Milwaukee’s Brew City Bombshells at 8 p.m. and MAM’s first-ever drag contest at 9 p.m., which will culminate with the crowning of the winner.
Drag contest, burlesque show kick off MAM After Dark seasonOpinion
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