Art City Asks: William Zuback

Art City Asks is a feature of JS Online. My interview with Bill Zuback was posted there on May 27:

Amanda, from the Dress Series

Who are you? How do you feel about yourself? How do you present yourself to the world around you? These and other fundamental, sometimes uncomfortable, often complex, questions of identity drive much of Milwaukee photographer William Zuback's creative output. Zuback may be motivated by newsworthy social issues such as bullying, discrimination and stereotyping. He might as easily find inspiration in a poem or other literary sources.

Like identity, which can be a thick stew of psychological, social, emotional and experiential ingredients, it is hard to categorize Zuback's photography. The work ranges from straightforward, almost classical nude figure studies to bizarrely surreal still-life confections.

Life on the Margin, from a series called “shutters/deadends/lens/pens”

Two things do unify a prodigious and diverse artistic practice. In a field gone digital and overwhelmingly done in color, Zuback chooses traditional studio processes and a time-honored palette of black and white tonalities. And although the force of his subjects' personalities can be powerful, his metaphors are subtly evocative, his compositions nearly always carefully and overtly constructed.

We met at the secluded lot in West Allis where Zuback lives and works. He ushered me into the windowless garage that serves as his studio. I was invited to sit in an old cushioned armchair while he sat on a folding chair. The dimly lighted space was cluttered with a wide variety of objects, including many dolls and manikins in various states of dress and dismemberment. Bill's calm, warm demeanor made it all feel inviting.

--> Jane Doe, from the Identity Series The artist's disarming serenity might explain how he attracts subjects and convinces them to reveal themselves physically and emotionally to his probing camera. After graduating from well-regarded Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, Zuback returned to his West Allis roots where he and his wife raised two now-adult children. He supports his personal practice as the supervisor of the photography studio at Kalmbach Publishing Co.

Zuback is represented by the Frank Juarez Gallery in Sheboygan. His work has been shown at a variety of local venues including the Wustum Museum, the Museum of Wisconsin Art, and the Charles Allis Museum.

Ashley, from the Dress Series

"The Dress Series," Zuback's current body of work, was inspired by a poem called "A Dress of Fire" by Dahlia Ravikovitch. The series will be the subject of a solo exhibition at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in September. These images continue his fascination with identity and explore the psychological and social implications of feminine formal attire.

To read Bill's thoughtful responses to the interview questions go to Art City Asks.

Who is C. Matthew Luther and why does he like Superfund sites?

Path of Least Resistance

I interviewed C. Matthew Luther for JSOnline's Art City recently. He spends time in places around Wisconsin that have been so polluted that they are designated Superfund sites by the Environmental Protection Agency. Then he makes art.

Read my interview at Art City Asks C. Matthew Luther.

MAM turns 10

If you don't get the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or missed today's Cue section, I invite you to visit Art City. Prompted by the 10th anniversary of the opening of "the Calatrava," Mary Louise Schumacher has provided a wonderful overview of the last decade at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

from Quilts at Gee's Bend, MAM

And if you missed my own reflections on the last decade in Milwaukee Art (which didn't emphasize MAM), check out "Remembering ten years of Milwaukee Art."

Nature Belle, Roy Staab, Hank Aaron State Trail

Remembering ten years of Milwaukee Art.

“The Calatrava” is ten years old this year. To mark this anniversary of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s famous new wing the Journal Sentinel’s art critic, Mary Louise Schumacher, is asking her readers to comment on a series of questions about the last ten years. Here are some of my random thoughts. (The complete set of questions is below and on her blog at Art City. If you are as inspired by them as I was, please go to her blog and give her your responses.)

Is Milwaukee’s art scene as exciting…? Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Excitement, I’d suggest, is an equally subjective response to a set of circumstances. For me Milwaukee’s art scene has become more and more exciting in the past ten years. If I am projecting…, well, I hope my excitement is infectious.

First, let’s get the bad news out of the way. The political trends of the last ten months threaten to overwhelm ten years of building optimism. Among the most ominous developments have been the decimation of arts programming in schools along with what seems to be a deliberate dismantling of public education in general.

Regarding architecture, Calatrava and the museum threw down a gauntlet ten years ago. That building is still pretty damn exciting, if you ask me. I rarely drive by without thinking it’s a miracle that it was built and that I am seeing it right here in Milwaukee.

What is missing? No similarly bold architecture has been built in ten years. A Calatrava design proposed for a pedestrian bridge over the former North Avenue dam site was scrapped for a less expensive alternative. A clumsy attempt to mimic the Art Museum’s tour de force at the adjacent Discovery World was wisely reconfigured.

Park East corridor

The excitement generated by the demolition of the Park East freeway, which made national headlines, has long dissipated, its still largely vacant corridor a constant reminder of untapped potential.

Sixth St. Bridge

Two architectural developments that come closer than most are both in the Menomonee Valley, which itself qualifies as having had a pretty exciting ten years. They are the twin Sixth Street bridges, ushering visitors into the revitalized Valley, and the remodeled Intermodal Station.

Which artists represent Milwaukee’s avant-garde today? Why the emphasis on “avant-garde”? I’m all for “forward-looking,” if that’s how it’s interpreted, but skeptical of the merely unconventional. Novelty devoid of content or relevance is vacuous. What is most exciting is the vigor of the art scene and how deep is the bench, both in visual and performing arts.

Lenz: Wishes in the Wind

I hesitate to begin a list of individuals because so many good artists are working in the region today that I would inevitably overlook many of them. So, I’ll pick just one: David Lenz. Avant-garde? You choose your definition; he fits mine.

What experiences have changed your perspective about the power of art? First, I have never doubted the power of art. Second, my experiences here and elsewhere have continually reinvigorated my faith. Here are a few things that I managed to dredge from my memory of the last ten years:

Staab: Nature Belle

Eyes Wide Open: TheHuman Cost of the Iraq War, at the then Midwest Express Center (2004). Roy Staab’s Nature Belle, a delightfully kinetic environmental installation in the Menomonee Valley (2005). Chris Jordan’s billboard sized photographs called Runningthe Numbers at the Union Art Gallery (UAG) in 2007. The UAG also had an exhibit that included an installation of a freeway ramp; can’t recall the title, definitely recall the bold use of that unique gallery space. Alverno College hosted a powerful exhibition of art by cancer survivors. Riverpulse, art and science combined to make the health of the Milwaukee River visible – an installation underneath the Holton Street Bridge (2007).

Of course, Milwaukee’s most famous public art piece of the past ten years is the one that was rejected, Oppenheim’s “Blue Shirt.” Much has been written about this early victim of then County Executive Scott Walker.

The performing arts scene is every bit as vibrant and deep as the visual arts. If I had to pick a single play from the last ten years, I think it would have to be the Milwaukee Rep’s production of Angels in America. And the whole idea of Combat Theater, which is just incredibly exciting.

I don’t get out to see dance as often as I’d like, but I’m sure glad I caught Wildspace’s use of the Chimney Park in the Menomonee Valley (before the Chimneys had to come down!)

What impact has MAM had on the art “ecosystem” here? MAM always will be the 800 lb. gorilla in Milwaukee and, although some have criticized its programming as not living up to the standard set by its new architecture, I think it has hosted a number of excellent exhibitions in recent years. (If you still haven’t seen Summerof China, get there before it closes this Sunday!) However, MAM should showcase more WI artists.

Fortunately, MAM is not the only alternative, nor the only one that has grown. The Latino Arts Gallery expanded into a larger and more beautiful space. The Wustum in Racine added the RAM. The rebranded Museum of WI Art in West Bend is poised for its own exciting expansion. The Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan provides more consistently excellent major exhibitions than any other museum in the region, in my humble estimation. And MU’s Haggerty also punches above its weight. “Current Tendencies,” which just opened there to a packed crowd is testament to the vitality and popularity of Milwaukee’s contemporary art scene.

Lynden Sculpture Garden

I knew I couldn’t keep this short! Quick hits: Bucketworks! Redline! MIAD’s senior thesis shows every May. MARN. Sharon Lynn Wilson Center. The Lynden Sculpture Garden opens to the public! Have the last ten years been exciting or what?!!

Final comment: If you are an artist, have you had formative experiences in Milwaukee lately? To do this question justice I would need at least a whole new post, but I will mention one influence for which I am grateful: it was Mary Louise herself who prompted me to start blogging. Thank you!

Here is the survey:

1. Is Milwaukee’s art scene as exciting today as it was 10 years ago? Why or Why not?
2. How would you describe the health of the art scene today? Are there missing ingredients?
3. If you were to assemble a list of people that represent Milwaukee’s avant-garde today (in terms of visual culture), who would you include?
4. What experiences at local galleries, museums or other venues have you had in recent years that have changed your perspective about the power of art? How do they compare to the experiences you’ve had in previous years (if applicable).
5. If you are an artist, have you had formative experiences in Milwaukee lately? In other words, what exhibits or talks have opened your thinking?
6. What are the greatest opportunities for change/improvement for Milwaukee’s cultural scene today?
7. If critical (but informal) dialogue once centered around places like Pumpkin World and UWM’s film department and people like David Robbins, what or who are the driving forces today?
8. What impact has MAM had on the art “ecosystem” here (i.e. galleries, artists, collectors, etc.). How should that change, if at all?

 
Except for David Lenz's "Wishes...," all photos in this post are mine. I found the Lenz image at http://www.artepolitik.com/WIpainting

Lots of Art in Milwaukee

If you don't get the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel or didn't happen to see today's paper, check out the CUE section online at Art City. It's nice to see CUE full of visual arts! Thanks, Mary Louise Schumacher, for great coverage of what's happening. One of the things that is happening happens today: don't miss the grand opening of the Lynden Sculpture Garden. See my previous blog.

The big story is the planned expansion of the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend. Though coming at a hard time financially, it is a good move for a lovely little museum with an important mission. We must hope that the economy hasn't forced the designers to compromise too much. According to the review, HGA architects not only haven't compromised but made good on the opportunity necessitated by crisis.

Museum of Wisconsin Art concept drawing, HGA architects

Theaster Gates at Milwaukee Art Museum inspires debate on Art City

Below is a slightly expanded version of a comment I made on the Art City blog today. The original post, by Rafael Salas, is a review of the small Theaster Gates exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum. You might want to read that and the comments that precede mine before reading this.

I saw the Gates exhibit yesterday. The show is an eclectic mix of widely diverse elements that lacks coherence. The disparate media are bound by the themes of racial identity and inequity, but it takes a determined visitor to discover this. I agree with the comment by MDavidson that parts of it ring hollow. Further, Salas said that "Gates does not shy away from expressing his anger" but I didn't feel any emotion. Like so much academic-oriented art these days, it uses a formulaic, conceptual representation of anger that has been distilled of any real emotional punch.

Having said that, the show does have merit. I’m glad to see it in the museum and I love the collaborative aspect described by Salas, which included free admissions to the museum for collaborators who might not otherwise have attended. Anything that increases the audience for serious art (and this is certainly serious, whatever its flaws) is good. If museums never showed anything but the greatest works of art there wouldn’t be much to go around—or argue about.

Mary Louise Schumacher, who writes Art City, mentioned that the Whitney Biennial has an installation by Theaster Gates. I saw the Biennial in March. The Gates installation there is more formally coherent than the one at MAM. Sadly, it is also easily overlooked. After a saturation tour of a very strong biennial in the main galleries I only discovered the Gates installation after browsing in the museum gift shop and wondering what all of that “stuff” was doing outside in the courtyard. Very few people ventured out. It is visible from outside and above, but is well below ground level and one must down over a parapet to see it. I watched as people wandered by. Most did not look down and if they did they didn’t pay much attention to the work. And that’s not surprising. It doesn’t look like much from above or from inside the shop. One must get close up, wander through its “alleyways” and peer inside his crudely formed wooden structures to experience the work.

Some of the same strategies that MDavidson critiqued so well in his comment apply here. I’ll add one: salvaged materials were “repurposed” for the installation. Collaboration is a key element here, too, and one of Gates’s strengths, I think. The image below is an example of a Gates installation (from the Whitney Museum website) but not the actual biennial piece.

To read more about the biennial installation click on Whitney Biennial.

To read more about the installation in Milwaukee click on MAM.