A visit to the Joan Miró museum in Barcelona

Galatea, 1976

 As a young man Joan Miró adopted a highly personal style within the extended family of Surrealism and an anti-bourgeous attitude characteristic of his time and artistic calling. In 1968, when he was 75, he established a foundation that would build an architectural monument dedicated to his work. The clean white Modernist museum stands on Montjuïc, a mountainside overlooking his native city of Barcelona. His attitude towards society may have shifted, but the collection housed in the museum demonstrates that his distinctive style remained largely consistent throughout his life.

Painting (for Emili Fernández Miró), 1963

Miró's idiosyncratic manner of working has been called "a sandbox for the subconscious mind." His childlike forms have appealed to me for as long as I've known about him. When I had the great fortune to visit Barcelona recently the Fundació Joan Miró, Centre d'Estudis d'Art Contemporani (Catalan for Joan Miró Foundation, Centre of Studies of Contemporary Art) was one of my primary destinations. I was not disappointed.

Mujer

The permanent collection includes works from throughout his long career (he lived a cool 90 years, from 1893 to 1983), and although he is among my favorite artists whose famous works are quite familiar, most of the paintings and sculptures on display were new to me. A lovely opportunity! Here I share a selection, just a small fraction of what can be seen at the museum.

Village and Church of Mont-roig, 1919

This early painting is done in what is called his "detailist" style, which was influenced by primitive and Japanese art, according to the wall label.

This one, from 1935, is titled "Man and woman in front of a pile of excrement" just in case, I suppose, you might not catch that detail. It is from a series known as the "savage paintings."

 Most of the early work is modest in size but later paintings and sculptures assume a much larger scale. A few vertical ones, such as "Woman, Bird 1" (below) and one of his monumental tapestries (that I didn't manage to capture on my iPhone) take up entire high ceilinged rooms.

The rooftop provides ample space for sculptures as well as panoramic views of the city below.

This triptych, mounted in an alcove, is titled "Painting on a white background for the cell of a recluse, I, II, III" (1968). The wall panel explains that the alcove reproduces the placement of the triptychs in the artist's studio and quotes Miró: "To me conquering freedom means conquering simplicity. At the very limit, then, one line, one color can make a painting."

Burnt Canvas 1, 1973

The wall panel accompanying this painting, the first of a series of canvases Miró attacked with a blowtorch, claims that he was trying to "taunt the art market." In all four languages used throughout the museum on its labels someone had written in pencil on the wall next to the panel, "It is easier to taunt it when one's position is either safe or desperate. The rest are in far more complex positions."

While the majority of work on view is by Miró himself, there are others as well. This complex temporary installation is in a gallery devoted to contemporary artists. It is titled: Plural Being. I am the Others, the Others are Me by artists identified as Momu & No Es.

Of it the website says this: "Plural Being. I am the Others, the Others are Me reflects the constant search for calm in a hectic society. Through a theme park scenario, the exhibition attempts to answer a series of questions about the times we live in, the things we yearn for, and the rewards we expect in return for our day-to-day efforts.

"Momu & No Es present a new installation that recreates a phantomscape through a series of sculptural elements, mantric sounds, suspended images and performative elements that plunge visitors into a space of sublimation and estrangement. A reflection on personal space and on the body as testing ground that questions the human condition in a hyperconnected era."

Woman, Bird 1, 1973

Other sights and scenes from my visit to Spain--including La Sagrada Familia and several other amazing feats of architecture by Gaudí--can be see on Flickr.

Forward 2016: A gallery walk & talk at Charles Allis

You are invited!

Please join me at the Charles Allis Art Museum this Saturday, 3-5 pm, for a walk and talk with eight of the artists in Forward 2016: A Survey of Wisconsin Art Now.

Inverse, from Lynden Sculpture Garden

The participating artists are Lois Bielefeld, Kevin Giese, Pat Hidson, Jeanne Nikolai Olivieri, Sara Risley, Jason Van Roo, Sara Willadsen and myself.

I will be talking about the two photographs reproduced here. Inverse (above) is from my 2015 artist residency at the Lynden Sculpture Garden. HL2016 no. 3 (below) is from an on-going series about New York's High Line Park. Come hear more about each of those projects.

HL2016 - 3, from The High Line: An Abstract Nature

The exhibit, which was juried by Susan Barnett and Brent Budsberg, has been on display since October 27, 2016 and runs through February 19, 2017. 

There is a discounted admission fee for this special event:
$3 Members, Students w/ ID and Seniors | $5 General Admission.

The Charles Allis is at 1801 N Prospect Avenue in Milwaukee. More information available on the museum website.

Trees: an exhibition at A Smith Gallery in Texas

Cultivar, from the Synecdoche Series

My image above is included in an exhibition entitled "Trees" at the A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, TX. The juror was a renowned photographer and one I've long admired: Michael Kenna.

Exhibition dates | December 16, 2016 to January 28, 2017

You can see more images from "Synecdoche: the fragment that represents the whole" on my website.

Women's March on Madison draws over 75,000

Fittingly, we arrived in Madison this morning in dense fog.

As people streamed around both sides of the Capitol and down State Street to the assembly point on the library mall of the UW campus, someone put a pink pussy hat on the statue that represents "Forward."

Hundreds more people continued to arrive even as the beginning marchers came up State Street.

As the crowd spill around the Capitol, more marchers continued to try to move up State Street. At some point there got to be too many and no one could move further. The Capitol square filled up and State Street was still full of people all the way back to the campus.

Police estimates vary between 75,000 and 100,000 people who attended today's Madison WI version of the Women's March on Washington.

As I post this the sister marches website has identified 673 marches in cities all over the world and estimates well over 4.5 million marchers.

As the day progressed the fog gradually cleared. There was great excitement amongst the crowd. However, as one of the speakers told the multitude, a march is not a solution. Solutions will begin when everyone returns home and takes a stand, day after day.

To see more go to Sister Marches.

Inauguration Day

Inauguration Day

piles of black snow

in the rain 

One haiku and one photograph to commemorate the day.

A poem/prayer for the New Year

Prayer for this House

by Louis Untermeyer

May nothing evil cross this door
and may ill fortune never pry
about these walls may the roar and rain go by

By faith made strong these rafters will
withstand the battering of the storm.
Though all the world grow chill will keep us warm.

May peace walk softly through these rooms,
touching our lips with holy wine
until every casual corner blooms into a shrine

With laughter drown the raucous shout
and though the sheltering walls are thin
may they be strong to keep hate out and hold love in.

Images from Casa Sophia, Managua, Nicaragua, site of my latest artist residency.  

2016: A year of art, architecture and...dance!

Untitled (Painter), Kerry James Marshall, MCA Chicago, IL

Arts Without Borders transcended geographical boundaries this year, with visits to such far-flung locations as Managua, Nicaragua and St. Petersburg, Russia and while traveling during the year I tried to report on the curious and remarkable. But that was never intended to be the primary meaning of the name. 2016 was a particularly good year for interdisciplinary arts, as the name Arts Without Borders was intended to signify. Art, like life itself, is everywhere. It is fluid, flexible and practiced on many different levels and with diverse intentions. While I like art museums and have had the pleasure to visit quite a few this year, including a couple pretty amazing ones, I find art that doesn't fit into a museum especially appealing. Art in the woods, music on the beach, dance in the river! It all happened this year.

Here is the year in review, a selection of memorable artistic things that I had the great fortune to see and do. I'll keep the captions brief. Most of the selections are from blog posts and will include links for those who would like to see more.

Bust of a Woman, Picasso, MOMA, New York, NY

Picasso is among the more famous of artists and yet the Museum of Modern Art managed to assemble a surprisingly fresh exhibit that focused on his sculptures: Picasso does sculpture at MOMA.

The High Line, New York, NY

I went to New York in January with the express purpose of seeing the High Line in winter. Little did I know that the day after I arrived the whole city (including the High Line) would shut down due to a blizzard that dumped a record-breaking 2 ft. of snow in one day. The blizzard was a delight, though: Making the best of the New York blizzard.

Frank Stella, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

The blizzard also meant more time in museums. The Whitney, newly located adjacent to the High Line, had a wonderful retrospective of Frank Stella: A visit to the new Whitney.

Curator Brandon Ruud with Niagara Falls, Louisa Davis Minot. MAM.

Back home the Milwaukee Art Museum had a good year with diverse exhibits. My personal favorite was Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School, which I reviewed for Milwaukee Magazine.

Grains of Sand (detail), Robert Tannen, Crystal Bridges, Bentonville, AR

On the road again in March, I drove to Houston for a conference. One reason for driving was to visit Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, created by Alice Walton of Wal-Mart fame. The full day I spent there was well worth the effort and inspired three separate posts:
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art: Part 1 (outdoor sculptures)
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art: Part 2 (special photo exhibit)
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art: Part 3 (permanent collection)

Bayou's State, Danceworks, Milwaukee, WI

Andrea Burkholder is a choreographer from Louisiana who created a dance with an environmental theme about the loss of wetlands there. She also created a Cajun dinner for those who attended the two performances in April and invited me to participate by displaying photographs of Milwaukee's waters to give it local flavor. The collaboration, a first for me, also involved her use of a set design inspired by a body of my work called "Accidental Art: construction fences in the landscape." I am grateful for the opportunity and I loved her dinner and performance: Bayou's State: dancing into oblivion.

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, detail of facade, Detroit, MI

The art scene in Detroit rocks! My second trip to Detroit in recent times allowed me to visit more than the usual attractions, such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, Heidelberg Project, Motown Museum, riverwalk, etc.

Detroit, MI

For example, driving around the largely depressed and often vacant neighborhoods outside of downtown led to a few surprising discoveries like this lone house with a lovely mural on it. Many more photos on my Detroit Flickr album.

Scenic Route MKE, performance in Riverside Park, Milwaukee, WI

Joined this time by her husband Daniel, Andrea Burkholder and their company brought dancing outdoors and, yes, in the river. The four-part program--one in each season--called Scenic Route MKE took place in Riverside Park. I witnessed two of them, spring and summer, and it was quite a treat: Scenic Route: MKE dances in the park.

Kitka River, Ilkka Halso, Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland

In June I was fortunate to be able to travel to Helsinki, Finland with my wife, who was there on business. I reported on Helsinki's varied art scene.

Temppeliaukio ("Church in the Rock), Helsinki, Finland

The highlight of Helsinki, however, was not one of the several art and design museums, but this spectacular domed church that was excavated directly into exposed rock: Temppeliaukio: Helsinki's "church in the rock."

Winter Palace, the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

Without hyperbole the peak art and architecture encounter of the year was our day at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. We could have spent several days in its network of buildings, except that our visa-free side trip to St. Petersburg from Helsinki required us to leave Russia within 72 hours of arrival! The Hermitage is not only the largest art museum in the world; it also includes the Winter Palace, home of the czars. Which is like taking the Louvre's collection and mashing it into Versailles. My post was titled: The Hermitage Museum: Art overload!

Real Time performs at Alfons Gallery installation of "Concrete River," Milwaukee, WI

On a more personal level, another peak experience was a collaborative installation at the Alfons Gallery with environmental artist Melanie Ariens and my photography. Concrete River: Memorial and promise on the Kinnickinnic incorporated concrete-like panels to hang the photographs as well as a shrine and reliquary composed of detritus scavenged from the river itself to create an immersive experience. On top of that, the Burkholders continued their collaboration by creating a dance performance (above) in the gallery space that was inspired by the themes of the installation: Nothing kills a river like concrete.

Eliza's Peculiar Cabinet of Curiosities, Fo Wilson, Lynden Sculpture Garden, Milwaukee, WI

While we're speaking in superlatives, my favorite single art work (if such a multi-dimensional installation can be called that) of the year was right here in Milwaukee. Ensconced in the backwoods at the Lynden Sculpture Garden for several months, Eliza's Peculiar Cabinet of Curiosities by Chicago artist Flo Wilson made a powerful statement with overt references to slavery, among other things: A "peculiar curiosity" lurks in the Lynden Sculpture Garden's backwoods.

Relief mural (detail), Hamilton Wood Type Museum, Two Rivers, WI

After too many years of driving right past the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum on my way to and from Door County I finally decided to stop and take a look. If you, too, are in the vicinity of Two Rivers, WI, it's worth a stop.

True Skool performing for We Are Water, Bradford Beach, Milwaukee, WI

With music, spoken word, poetry, puppetry, and a community participation art installation an event at Bradford Beach in August was the most multi-disciplinary I attended this year. The third annual "We Are Water" event was organized by the non-profit organization known as Milwaukee Water Commons. Billed as a "celebration of Milwaukee's waters," the event has become a mini-arts festival as well as a meditation on the importance of water to Milwaukee and all life on earth.

"Glitch Frog," MTO, Black Cat Alley, Milwaukee, WI

With great fanfare, Black Cat Alley opened in Milwaukee in September. The alley is located on the East Side and is the newest art venue in the city with murals large and small.

Black Star 2, Kerry James Marshall, MCA, Chicago, IL

OK, another favorite: Picasso was wonderful; the Hudson River School was lovely; the Hermitage was overwhelming; but the Kerry James Marshall exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago was simply astonishing! It has my vote as best exhibit of the year. Sadly, I never got around to writing it up for the blog.

St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO

I was in St. Louis for one day. The weather was lovely and I enjoyed walking around Forest Park, but the art museum was closed. I made this photograph of one of its facades as an ode to the fragmented and minimal remnants of forest in the park.

Gerald D. Hines Water Wall, Houson, TX

The Water Wall in Houston is a 64-ft. tall, semi-circular monument with a constant cascade flowing down its inside surface. The massive structure is nestled in a grove of 118 live oaks and faces out towards a vast, flat, featureless expanse of grass that takes up a city block. It was designed by renowned architects Johnson and Burgee. So, is it architecture, sculpture, landscape design, or something else? It's definitely imposing. Also popular. I was in Houston for a conference called "Leading with Landscape," organized by the Cultural Landscape Foundation. I was grateful and honored when they decided to feature my work on their website: It takes one.

Mitchell Park Conservatory, Milwaukee, WI

You can see a selection of photos from Houston in my Flickr album. The conference and the city itself inspired an essay that I wrote for Milwaukee Magazine: What can Milwaukee learn from "Housonization?"

Wisconsin Photography 2016, Wustum Museum of Art, Racine, WI

I'd like to tie up the loose ends of 2016 with a couple personal notes. In an exhibit called Wisconsin Photography 2016 at the Wustum Museum of Art (a satellite of the Racine Art Museum) I was honored to receive a purchase award--for Inverse, the print in the center of this picture, which you can see more clearly in my blog post.

First Snow, Greenfield Park, West Allis, WI

After my first full year of using Instagram I can report that this image, which I shot in early December, during the season's first snowfall, was the most popular. I'm still not sure what that's worth, but the fact that this image was the most popular validates for me anyway all the time I spend pursuing the Urban Wilderness. And if you're still with me and want to see how important that is, click here.

Catedral Santiago at Christmas, Managua, Nicaragua

Last but not least, I spent the final two weeks of 2016 as artist in residence at Cantera, a non-profit community development organization in Managua, Nicaragua. You can see some of the photographs I made here, but mostly I wrote and much of what I wrote was in the form of haiku. Below is just one. It relates to the image above, which is deceiving. (Some pictures require a thousand words!) The cathedral was severely damaged in 1972 by an earthquake that flattened the rest of the city. For the past 44 years it's been unsafe and closed to the public.

the old cathedral—

behind brightly colored lights

hollow ruin

In closing, a quote for the new year: "The art world is part of the actual world. Let’s imagine and reflect the society we want to live in." ~ Diya Vij.

(The quote is from a recent article in Hyperallergic.)