Joseph Reeves: Art on the Road

Photo by Joseph Reeves



Joseph Reeves is a young emerging artist whose art springs from life on the road. The road is the setting of a novel in progress, "The Last Great american Novel" to be exact. The road is inspiration for tree sculpture, toothpick sculpture, and God only knows what else.

Often writers and artists have taken to travelling to find the thing that gives life to ideas and creativity. It may be too much of a cliche at this late hour, but yet another generation is going out on the road to find the inspiration apparently not found sitting behind a desk.

Reeves' overflow of writing and art could lead to something great one day or it could all just be lost to the road. Whatever the out come by be you gotta respect the kid for trying.

The art seen below is not from the road, but from the studio. More can be found at josepreeves.blogspot.com or
thelastgreatamericanjourney.blogspot.com






Spaghetti Sculpture

Satin Doll

I grew up near Fondulac Ave. It's a main vein of the city, cutting through the city's roughest neighborhoods on a diagonal. This area has always been working class. All the whites moved out when the city started forcing them to sell homes to blacks. In the late seventies my mom married my stepfather and bought a duplex on Locust, just down the street from Fondulac Ave.




There were store front churches and taverns on every other block. You could go to Big Mama's Fun House on Saturday night and The Temple for Jesus on Sunday. Immigrants ran the corner stores, but they never lived in the neighborhood.




On hot summer days the Satin Doll's Lounge's back patio would be open. You could see the patio area from the street. They had those old school oil drum barbecue pits smoking. Riding by on the bus I wondered what went on there. Were there half naked go go dancers with satin skin prancing around? That cool vibe faded slowly over the years, as times changed and the neighborhood slipped further into poverty.




There’s always been a hope that the area would somehow rise up. It is getting better further down the road and I think in a few years these throw backs to the seventies will be gone forever.

Words of Love

Video art of the day.

Poem

I stopped writing poetry years ago. Working full time took my mind away from poetry. It used to be something I lived and breathed. Now it creeps in late at night like an old dog that was abandoned long ago.


If I had a tree that grew in the forest that only I could see
a tree that gave fruit of gold and leaves of silver
a clever bird singing at the top its branches
that only I could see
with a red breast burning like a witch's red hair
holding a heart beating like a black drum
the roots of this tree drinking from a subterranean spring
flowing to my door and breaking through my ground
like truth overcoming lies
life overcoming death
then I would know what the Earth knows.
What the stars contain.
Then there would be no secrets.
There would be no doubt
that love is still in my lover's eyes
that my faith has not blinded me
that magic is not the trick of the hand over the eye
and my prayers will find God listening.

Patricia Obletz

Artist Patricia Obletz uses bold color and expressive lines to present the full spectrum of human life; from everyday moments of joy to everyday moments of human tragedy. There is a roughness and sadness in her work that may be due to her own experiences or an ability to express the pain of others. Although she is a trained artist as the result of a car accident she has the hand of the outsider artist in many of her paintings. She has had to relearn painting.

"Still thinking" begs the question thinking of what? Getting free? Seeing again? Although "Standing Nude" is clearly a rough outline it's expressiveness is complete in and of itself. Everything needed to be said is said in the raw strokes alone. The body bears the marks of time and deed. Obletz's display of emotion overrides technique. Her style isn't cool or even new. "Standing Nude" brings to mind the German Expressionists. I find a warmth in her use of color not found in many works I've come across on line.


"Woman with dog"


2009 "Standing Nude"


"Still Thinking" 2005




"Genocide" 1994

No Mas

I'm not a fan of Dock Ellis or baseball, but this is interesting. The honesty of Ellis' story telling and the rawness of James Blagden's animation makes it comical and a little sad.

Life Takes Over

Fear by C. Babb


Black Eye by C Babb


There's a lot going on around me, but for some reason my brain has slowed down. There's tons to do, but not the right thing to do. I seem to be moving further away from writing and becoming more visual. I'm digging the idea of being able to create spantanious images with out any plan, just a few strokes of a pen or marker. These were created on a cumputer in a few minutes. I wasn't trying to create a fully developed image. I wanted to draw just enough to capture a mood.

Pixies Reunite, Nirvana Remembered

I heard The Pixies are reunited for a sold out tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary the album Doolittle. Didn't they do this reunion thing already? The first time they reunited was cool. Now I'm feeling a little cynical about it. They existed for a time and place that can't be relived without possibly leaving their fans a little disappointed that the band has changed since Doolittle was released. But the fact that they've sold out says a lot about how strong their pull remains.

It's funny how music is so closely tied to memory. You remember the music that was playing in the background just as much as actual the events of your life. Generation X'ers are aging fast and now it's our turn to look back on the music we grew up on. Nirvana's Bleach got a ton of play on my Walkman. Yes, I said Walkman. I haven't thought of Nirvana in years. I've grown up and moved on musically, but I can still appreciate the energy and originality Nirvana brought. The Pixies and Nirvana were bands that seemed to come along at just the right time. Both were dark, moody, and a little crazy, but more true to life than anything because they spoke to my youthful mind. And though we all need to grow up, sometimes I miss the dark, crazy times spent screaming my lungs out with Francis and not having to think about getting old.

Pictures of Riverwest, Milwaukee

These pictures were taken on a Sunday afternoon walk through Riverwest, which is an old working class part of Milwaukee.

Revision 11-12-09

I realized after I posted this that I didn't make it clear that I am the photographer. I've always loved the idea of taking photos, but have been too shy to engage in taking pictures of people., so I tend to stick things. Riverwest is interesting because it's so run down and yet there are these arty, hipster pockets that leave you thinking it might take off one day.

The Beatles: '88

With the release of remastered albums and entry into the world of music video games via RockBand there's renewed hype about a band that broke up over thirty years ago. The Beatles are all over the radio and TV once again. Back in junior high school they were my favorite band. I don’t remember exactly how I got into their music, but it must have started with listening to oldies on AM radio, and hearing about the British invasion that started in the sixties with their clean cut suites and Mod hair cuts. As a kid I was drawn to them because they did not fit into my world. They were foreign on every level. They were white, English, and before my time. I wasn’t even born when they broke up. Mine was a working class neighborhood that had slowly turned from all white, to mixed, to all black by the time I finished high school. The album "Thriller" came out when I was in the fourth or fifth grade and was all anyone talked about. My fifth grade teacher even tried to teach the dance sequence for the video to the class. Everyone wanted one of those tacky red leather jackets. You know the one I’m talking about. I’m certain I was the only kid, black, white, or blue who didn’t give a shit about Michael Jackson.

Listening to The Beatles was a strange way to rebel against life in the inner city. I lived in a world of corner stores and boarded up houses. Starting with the first grade, like must inner city kids I was bussed to an all white neighborhood to attend elementary school. At Ralph Waldo Emerson racism trickled down from the parents of the white kids whose neighborhood us black kids were shipped to. We were not welcome. It was made known that we needed to adjust to their semi-suburban world.

If you did not speak standard English the white kids had a habit of pointing out your mistakes and letting you know that your way of speaking was substandard. I resented that, and made a point to learn to speak like them and better than them. I must admit I was jealous that I didn't get to walk home for lunch and see my mom in the middle of the day much less see her after school.

Much of my time after school was in fact spent alone in the living room listening to records. I’m old enough to have owned records and I still miss putting the needle to vinyl and my ear the speakers to catch the warm crackles and pops, the stray guitar licks and coughs. I felt like I was the only one in the world who heard all that. Just as I was the only black kid in my classes. Music is tied to memory and all of my memories of the Beatles are tied to memories of time spent alone trying to figure out the lyrics to “I am the Walrus.”

I sold all of Beatles albums when I reached high school and discovered punk and alternative. I outgrew their over produced sound. "The White album," "Rubber Soul," "Abbey Road" and "Revolver" among others were happily turned over to a used record store for cash. Years later I bought "Revolver" on CD just for the sake of nostalgia. It wasn't the same. A large part of the process of listening to the music was handling the records, moving the needle back and forth, examining the cover art and flipping the cover back to front trying to find something new. That's when I regretted selling those records.

SKETCH BOOK

The line at the bottom says: They feed off of each other's insanity. It's a work in progress about the nature of cults and their leaders.

Here's two drawings of a strange piece of clay I found in the scrap bin at MIAD. I started drawing late, but always wanted to be one of the cool kids who could draw anything.

Haggerty Museum: Martha Rosler

Martha Rosler

Invasion 2008 from Bringing The War Home: House Beautiful, new series 2004-08, photomontage as o-print 30x40"

I often feel that I'm living in a land of make believe where my job and my easy access to excess is a fantasy superimposed on the poverty and war of the real world. I found out I'm not alone. Martha Rosler started making photomontages in the sixties as a way to express her political and anti-war sentiments. Her original plan was to be an abstract expressionist painter. When pop art came on the scene she found the use of everyday images from advertising and pop culture better suited her perception of the world.

In an interview with WUWM's Lake Effect she talked about how the juxtaposition of images in photomontages reflected the strange, disconnectedness I have often felt living in relative comfort in the US, surrounded by advertisements and reality TV while watching our soldiers and our enemies kill each other in Iraq and Afghanistan from a distance. "We have mentally constructed a here and a there. Over there is chaos, hell, blood and death...It's one world."

The feeling of being disconnected is often just below the surface. Rosler's photomontages bring that feeling to the surface and help us to remember that the world out there is just as real as here.

Now until October 4th Rosler's photomontages titled Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful will be part of an exhibit called Jump Cut Pop at the Haggerty Museum

MKE MOVIE MAKER DARRAN COLE

Through a project called Alpha Sessions native Darren Cole is creating a record of what's happening in Milwaukee's corner of Hip Hop and presenting it to the world via video. He presents Mcs more as artists than "rappers." Milwaukee Hip Hop is a million miles away from corporate rap. Cole's videos are shot on the street, in the laundromat, at the grocery store. There's no glamor, no money. These guys are a little scary looking. But this is what you get when you leave the ivory tower and come down to street level. Cole's love of Hip Hop bleeds into his love of vinyl, which he shares in a documentary film shot around Milwaukee. I hope to see more from Darren Cole.

Alpha Sessions~Dana Coppafeel "88" from Darren Cole on Vimeo.

An MC in his element from Darren Cole on Vimeo.

Vinyl Wax Records from Darren Cole on Vimeo.

Street art

Sometimes Europeans are more American than Americans. They take what we invent such as Rock, Jazz, Hip Hop and graffiti and expand on it to make it their own. Now days graffiti is more appropriately labeled street art. It exists in a state where it is always free and available to the public. Each piece is unique. Each piece creates a place for the eye to rest and the mind to escape the mundane scenes of life. Unlike a lot of public art street art feels like it belongs. It grows from the street. It is at home in the dirt and grime of cities. Even the old cities of Europe. The form has been expanded to include theories of abstract art and the cultures of each new place it lands. Thanks to Sara Tajariol.

On the streets (and the galleries) of Milan from sara tajariol on Vimeo.

On the streets of Hamburg from sara tajariol on Vimeo.

MAD MAN DRAWING

I like to capture moments of creativity as they happen. Seeing any artist at work gives life meaning. The artist is Kyle Thomas hand drawning 1,500 covers for Beautiful/Decay.

Beautiful/Decay Book 1: Diary of a Madman from Beautiful/Decay Magazine on Vimeo.

Gallery Night in Milwaukee

Gallery Night & Day is coming up on July 24 and 25th and I've got art on my mind. Sometimes I wonder what the true value of art is. What's the point of it all? Why do we create? I don't know if I even want to write about Gallery Night as it is an event that will be pounced upon by every blogger under the sun. I'm still looking for an event that jumps out at me. Gallery Night & Day is often more about sampling small bites of what the arts have to offer here in Milwaukee. Some bites are better than others. Some capture my imagination, others just leave me wondering what the hell the artist was thinking.

Peltz Gallery has its "Nineteenth Annual Remarkable Women Show” which brings together women artist from the local and national scene.

"Paintings, drawings, collage and museum quality prints by more than 40 contemporary women artists. Regulars: Squeak Carnwath, Lesley Dill, Hung Liu, Frances Myers, Judy Pfaff, JoAnna Poehlmann, Carol Pylant, Alison Saar, Cheryl Olson Sklar, Jeanette Pasin Sloan, Evelyn Patricia Terry, Kara Walker, Della Wells and others are joined by newcomers: Dottie Attie, Elizabeth Catlett, Claire Van Vliet, Carol Wax. Also Judy Chicago of “Dinner Party” fame: An early pioneer in feminist art, author, educator, project organizer, collaborator, and tireless advocate for the need for art in the lives of the under-served in society. Judy Chicago has been a driving force in the cultural life of the United States."


Peltz Gallery
1119 East Knapp St. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 USA Tel: (414) 223-4278 Fax: (414) 223-4306 Director: Cissie Peltz. Reception and Opening Gallery Night, July 24th. 6 p.m.-9:30 p.m




Katie Gingrass Gallery will feature fine art by a host of artists working in various mediums.


Abstract Perspectives John Mominee-monotype David Schaefer-oil painting Suzanne Donazetti-metal sculpture Nell Devitt - ceramic wall sculpture Leslie Emery-mixed media Ken Anderson-wood sculpture Rusty Wolfe-mixed media Jeffrey Kenney - sculpture & photography Yolanda Arda - glass wall sculpture Steve Immerman - glass sculpture Markow & Norris - woven glass Anastasia Azure - sculpture


Katie Gingrass Gallery
241 N. Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202




Walker's Point Center for the Arts

Regan Golden & Jennifer Harris
Decorative Directive
Friday, July 24 through August 22, 2009
Opening Reception: Summer Gallery Night, Friday, July 24, 5–9pm

"The interests of Jennifer Harris, a metal-smith and industrial designer, and Regan Golden, a visual artist trained in drawing and painting, converge where art and design, the domestic and the public, the hand-made and the industrial, the orderly and the chaotic intersect. This space allows both artists to explore how different notions of femininity manifest themselves in our material culture. Working with labor-intensive processes traditionally associated with feminine craft work, such as cutting, pinning and sewing, both artists create highly elaborate and ornamental – but at the same time highly unstable – works. While on one hand these works question traditional feminine values inherited from the past, they are at the same time nostalgic for the by-gone culture of individual touch and gesture. The wallpaper, the lace curtain and the tablecloth are used as emblems of this ambiguous, contradictory attitude. "

Walker's Point Center for the Arts
911 W. National Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53204
Phone: 414.672.2787 Fax: 414.755.1960
Gallery Hours: Tue-Sat, Noon to 5pm
Admission to the gallery is FREE

The Art of Nature

Inova Institute of Visual Arts is feature local artist Roy Staab for it's latest exhibition. It is a retrospective of temporary art Staab has produced over the years where nature is the main element.


Roy Staab
FOUR SEASONS/FOUR CORNERS

July 10-September 27, 2009

Opening: Friday, July 10, 6-9 pm
Reception to mark completion of the outdoor work & publication of catalogue: August 18, 7-9 pm

"Minimalism and Earth Art developed simultaneously in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Several noted artists, like Michael Heizer, Nancy Holt and Alice Aycock, combined strict geometries and minimal aesthetics with the vicissitudes of land, weather and atmosphere. With Roy Staab: Four Seasons/Four Corners, a retrospective exhibition at the Institute of Visual Arts (Inova), Milwaukee-based artist Roy Staab will finally be recognized as an integral part of this movement. Staab’s early work of the 1970s shows a preoccupation with pitting solid lines against the osmotic properties of water and natural forms."

Inova/Kenilworth
2155 N. Prospect Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Gallery hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 12 noon-5 pm & Thursdays till 8 pm

The Trusty Knife

The Trusty Knife made up of Zack Pieper, Brock Gourlie, Ross Bachhuber, Spectron, and Annie Killelea is a self described pop band. Like so many Milwaukee bands they are heavily influenced by the past. I don't know if it's something in the air, but be it hip-hop or rock Milwaukee bands tend to have a laid back retro sound that lands somewhere between the 80's and 60's. The Trusty Knife carries on the tradition of creating strong melodies that echo the classic rock of the 60's. To their credit I can't pin down one influence that stands out more then any other, or obscures their voice. They're able to blend it all together to form music that's sounds familiar and different.

Although the energy of the album "The Trusty Knife" doesn't match the energy of their live performances the album gives you a chance to hear the pure melodies without them being drowned out by at times strange and somewhat over indulgent vocalizing of lead songer Zack Pieper. It seems when he sings live he can go a little nuts.

Songs of note are "Jack In the Box," "Goliath Son," "It's All Built In," and "Flash in the Pan." These are the kind of songs you could play over and over again and never get tried of hearing.

Fahamu Pecou is the Shit or so he says

Fahamu Pecou, an Atlanta based artist inserts himself into his art feeding our need for images, questioning our need for images and questioning our ideas about image. If you see a black man on the cover of a rap magazine verses an art magazine how do you perceive him? Pecou is interested in how branding, and propaganda influence culture and thinking. He explains in his artist statement:

"Thinking through the process of media propaganda brought me to my current work with magazine covers. Playing on the public's psychological reaction to magazines, and preconceived ideas about who should be in them, I began projecting my image and ideas on the covers of magazines. I further abstracted the concept by juxtaposing my character's in your face, hip-hop bravado on fine art magazines."

He presents the easily cliche hip-hop persona. You may even think you recognize him in his many posses on various magazine covers. Like propaganda you begin to believe what you see; that this is someone you should know about. And you should know about Pecou the artist. Is he only talking about the persona of Fahamu Pecou when he describes himself as "the most beautiful and brightest boy in the land" on his cover for Fader magazine? In an interview for FormatMag.com he mentions that magazines often request his covers. As it was for Warhol, fame is the key. Pecou plays heavily on the notion of fame for the sake of fame through his persona and in turn plays on our desire to know who he is as an artist and somehow become part of the scene he is creating.

Gallery Openings and Closings

There's been a lot of panic and concern over the state of the arts in Milwaukee. Galleries are closing within a couple of years of opening. I'll admit I tend to put things off, but I'd expect a gallery to last a good five years before it closes up. But what's even more surprising is they keep opening. Just as the Armoury Gallery closed it's doors another has popped up. Caggio: An Art Experiment just announced the opening of it's first show on June 5th to the pleasant surprise of a lot of people who've perhaps unintentionally written off the ability of Milwaukee artists, curators, and art enthusiasts to keep art alive in this city. And let's face it, a gallery is a business and running a business can be a difficult operation. Many business fail. I can only hope that Milwaukee has enough people who are willing to step up and say yes I want to open a gallery and yes I'm willing to do the research so I know what I'm doing.

Walkers Point Center for the Arts Annual Members Show

Now for a little shameless self-promotion. Come see the show! Come see the show! Walkers Point Center for the Arts is opening its members show Friday, June 5 and my art will be on the walls. I got a peek at some of the other submissions and I think the exhibit is going to be extremly varied. Here's a look at some of my work.

The show runs til July 2, and admission is free.

Fashion for Life

Prim & Proper-Kadeem Johnson, Bronx, NY



The Great Gatsby-Linda Lunstedt, Goteburg Sweden

Lookbook.nu with its fashion pics from around the world is seductive, cool and a little addictive.

Dawoud Bey after dark

Another night of MAM After Dark has come and gone. It’s the Milwaukee Art Museum’s way of getting people to come to museum under false pretenses. I suspect they don’t really care if you like the food or the entertainment so long as you see the art. The food and entertainment are the bate. That’s fine with me. The night featured old school hip-hop. True Skool brought the breakdancers and graffiti art. The movie “Beat Street” played in the Lubar Auditorium, and by DJ Tarik Moody of 88Nine Radio Milwaukee brought the music.

The crowd was large and energetic although there were moments when I sensed the event needed a little more direction. People needed to be told what to do, instructed on how to party. I spotted quite a few wall flowers standing around or sitting on the floor. And being that I’d already scene at lot of the art on display I quickly ran out of ways to occupy myself between breakdance sessions.

One display I had not seen was a group of portraits called Class Pictures taken of high school students from around the country by photographer Dawoud Bey. He’s been a photographer for over thirty years and a professor of photography at Columbia College Chicago since 1998. The purpose of the project in Bey’s own words is “to create a compelling and significant contemporary portrait of American youth in its various social and human dimensions.”

Each extra large, color portrait is accompanied by a description of the subject written by the subject. We see the image of the tall, handsome teenage boy, with steely eyes and read that he is really a mama’s boy and misses his family. We see the “pretty girl” who speaks for languages. Bey creates, by including the teens own statements about themselves an opportunity to view and understand the individual; and possibly relate through the memory of what it was like to be a teenager full of plans and expectations, but lacking life experience.

I just wish Bey could have gotten more of the teens to let their guard down physically. Except for a few they all appeared to me as angry teenagers at first glance, which of course they weren’t. Bey seemed to mainly capture a hardness, and standoffish air teens tend to carry in their body language. And of course what’s missing is the teens who aren’t in school, the drop outs and the runaways. The show runs to July 12, 2009. Examples of Bey’s other works can be found at his web site www.dawoudbey.net.

It's Sat night and I need a beat

So I finally got up off my ass to go out on a Saturday night and hear some local music. I want to see and hear what Milwaukee really has to offer. For years I been putting it off and for years I’ve heard the complaints that Milwaukeeans don’t support the local music scene.

Thanks to 88nine Radio Milwaukee I’ve heard more and more local bands get air time. Which is a good start. The results are mixed. Some of the groups are headed in the right direction. Some need to end their suffering now and just break up. But what I really want to experience is the live music.

My first night out in a long time I dragged my boyfriend across town with two options in mind, Code Breaker and Those XCleavers. We headed to the Stonefly Brewery first to check out Codebreaker. They’ve gotten respectable air time on 88nine with “Fire” and “Riviera On The Moon.“ Their music is a cool and breezy throw back to disco, laden with funk and danceable beats, so I was prepared to get up. The show was scheduled to start at 10pm. We got there at 10:30pm and the band was still sitting up. I had a feeling they’d get a late start as that seems to be the norm around here. But when you’re pushing forty and used to getting up and going to work five days a week going out on a Saturday night is a major operation. I don’t want to sit and wait for a band to start. So we got up and walked around the neighborhood to see what else was going on at the other bars.

We followed cool crowds of black clad twenty-somethings until they disappeared into nothingness. I wanted to cool like them and not care about were I was going or when I’d be home, because only the moment mattered. But it was 11pm and I was pissed and tired and still needed to justify being in a bad neighborhood late at night with a middle-aged white man who’s sweet, but not nearly tough. Only live music could justify me and there was none to be had.

We soon realized there was nothing to see but a couple of fully krausened drunks mumbling to themselves and made our way back to Stonefly. Code Breaker still wasn’t set up. I must admit my expectations were low for Code Breaker as I’d witnessed them walk off the stage mid-song once before when they suddenly decided the sound wasn‘t up to their standards.

As the night was wasting away and we still hadn’t had the chance to hear any live music we headed off to the ever crowded and lively Brady Street to the Up and Under Pub. Brady Street is like a cool dream and a nightmare. I drew energy from the crowds of younger women who remind me for myself when I was in my twenties running around in the middle of the night trying to get high, look good and searching for the secret something that only existed in clubs, beats and cigarettes smoke. The nightmare is driving in circles looking for a parking space, vaguely worrying about getting hit up for money by a homeless guy or mugged.

We were lucky enough to find a parking space after only ten minutes of driving in circles, strolled down to the spot only to find that
Those XCleavershad cancelled. I have a vague memory of this band from the eighties. I was expecting to see a bunch of middle-aged punk rockers trying to make a come back. Maybe they were too tired to play. I did manage to dig up some very worn videos of “Confusion(Do The)” "Mondo Commando" and they sound better than they look.





I was fighting sleep, but didn’t want to give upon the night just yet, so we stopped in Rochambo for a game of Operation and a soda. We called somewhere round midnight.
I will not give up. I want to see what the musicians and performers of this city have to offer.

Janet Zweig vs Milwaukee,WI

During the last few weeks there has been a lot of talk about the near debacle of yet another public art project here in Milwaukee To make a long story short the project created by artist, Janet Zweig nearly fell apart due mainly to lack of communication and follow through. Who’s at fault? The arts community for not knowing about the project and supporting it? Members of the Milwaukee Common Council for not educating themselves about the artist? The artist for not showing up to explain her work to the Common Council before they made their finale vote on the project? All of the above? In the end the project survived. But that’s not what I really want to write about.

All of the debate, anger, and threats of defecating on lawns
surrounding the project has got me thinking about the state of Milwaukee’s cultural scene and how that scene is tied to the over all health of the city. Most of the blogs, posts and meetings I’ve come across or attended lament the weak state of the arts in Milwaukee. Galleries open and close before anyone knows they exist. Funding for art is hard to come by and artists struggle to make a living from their art.

Then I think about the state of the city itself and wonder if the art world complainers see what I see. The poverty and segregation here are legendary. The high school drop out rate is hovering at 50%. The unemployment rate for black men is at or pushing 50%. Many of the city’s neighborhoods have not seen development in decades, and are quickly becoming slums. Milwaukee’s people are hanging on by a thread in many cases. So when the arts community comes together to plead for more funding for public art, I’m not so much against it as I’m worried they’re not seeing the big picture.

In a city with a largely black and Hispanic population that doesn’t go downtown except to shop at the mall, is it really worth it to install public art downtown if most of the people from these groups never see it? The Zweig project has been in development since the 1990’s. How many projects does the city have in the works to bring jobs to the inner city? I can’t see the black unemployed caring about the controversy over the bronze Fonz, when they’ve never heard of it and have no way to get to it. I feel more anger and concern about the lack of resources people need to survive then about a tacky statue of a character on TV.

I’m a poet and a painter so I can’t be labeled as biased against art. I care a great deal about the decline of writing poetry as a serious endeavor. I’ve struggled and am still struggling with trying to justify writing poetry when it is so isolated from the rest of American culture. What I’ve found more often then not is art is not part of everyday life. It’s being squeezed out of the “real” world.
Those who try to bring the two together struggle for attention and support.
I know what it’s like to not get the attention deserved for the efforts put forth to promote or produce art. But artists and galley owners can often come across as elitist without intending to, because the art community often takes for granted that everyone else is on the same page. The voices discussing art and it’s importance and what constitutes legitimate art are mostly white, middle class, educated and don’t live in the inner city. They don’t see the ugliness of poverty every time they walk out their doors. They don’t generally have to deal with law enforcement, low wage jobs, or W-2. Art, if it is going to be part of peoples’ lives and communities needs to reflect them. Art has to be of value to the majority not just the elite. Otherwise it can’t expect much support from the majority, which it needs to survive.

It’s a lot to ask artists who may not even be able to relate to someone outside of their world to reach out to those who don’t have easy access to art, but it’s happening in small ways. Just as we need those pot holes filled in and MPS fixed we need to build on the arts. We need art and jobs and decent affordable housing. The arts community needs to care about more then just getting funding for itself if it expects support from the wider world. Maybe the days of producing art for art’s sake are over. That was a dream world I certainly never saw.

ART BABBLE FEATURES ART:21

If you ever wonder what goes into the creative process check out Art Babble, and see a preview of the next season of art:21 art in the twenty first century. I believe this is the only series on TV that gets behind the process of makng art, taking the viewer from inspiration, creation, to the instilation process. Some of the contemporay artists to be featured are Mary Heilmann, William Kentridge, and Yinka Shonibare

The Darfur is dying. Let's watch Britney Spears

photoStephanie Zito

Words by CYB

Things seem to be falling apart around me. Or at least that’s what the talking heads on cable would have me believe. I don’t want to write about the state of the economy or whether Obama is a socialist, or soon to be mass murderer as some other blogs would have me believe. I am not looking for an angle or bold head line. The problems this country faces are far too complex to summarize in one emotional, brain dead rant.
Our civilization is in flux. It may be dying. We in the West may have to go back to living on less of everything and that may be a good thing for us and the planet. If the United States economy is based on consumerism and credit surely it can’t help but fall apart when consumers run out of money. And surely the world doesn’t have enough oil for two billion people in India and China to live the life style of the average American. So why are so many people shocked to find the economic system we live under is falling apart?
I pray individuals will start to realize they need to change their lives before leaders have to tell them. When leaders start to be forced to face the truth it will be too late. Millions die so we can have cell phones and oil. Millions die for no reason at all. All we can do is watch Britney Spears shave her head.

The Delta Routine

“Donna” is the first full length album of The Delta Routine, released January 19, 2008. The voice of lead singer, Nick Amadeus hits you first. It’s strong, raw, and full of body. That voice is the backbone to the primative lryics of the album. Amadeus does old school rock as if it were 1967 for the first time. His voice is rough, pure, and fresh while the drums, bass, and guitar echo the sound of classic rock and emerging punk when both were still connected to blues.
The title song “Donna” is highly sexual, and old school. It’s chorus “Hey there Donna let me get next to you. Hey there Donna you never know what you do” is the anthem of the sex starved man/child. This is sexual drive is even more apparent with the song “Sink In.” It leaves nothing to the imagination.
But I’m not saying the song writing doesn’t work. It fits the simple, straight forward guitar licks. Early punk and rock was all about keeping the sound simple. The appeal of the Kinks “You Really Got Me Now” it’s simple and pure emotion that oozes out without thought or pretense. Part of the appeal of The Stooges and The Ramons lies in their simple lyrics and rough instrumentation. The Delta Routine has that same energy. The difference is that now that energy is accepted by the masses where once it was maligned. One can only hope that The Delta Routine will build on this early sound, bringing it up to speed by dipping more into their own voice and their own time.
Evan Paydon on bass and Kyle Ciske on drums round out the Milwaukee based band that’s currently playing around Wisconsin promoting their new album produce by Mike Hoffmann. Besides “Donna” two standout tunes are “Little Truth” and “Now You Know.”

The Color of Sound:Santigold

We’re moving into a new era in music, or so it seems. The culture of black music is expanding in a new direction once again with artists such as Santigold who reference more than just R&B, Soul, or Hip Hop. These forms still have their influence, but now there’s suddenly room for New Wave, and Alternative Rock. What it means to do “black music” is no longer fixed or clear. But what if the black female voice shifts away from its roots? What then? Is it good, bad, or neither? What’s genuinely black? Does it matter anymore. We have a biracial president. Hip Hop is influencing kids all over the world not just in places black people live. And Hip Hop is adaptable to any culture.
I’m drawn Santigold not only because I like her music. She’s of my generation. A generation of black listeners who are willing to admit to liking “white music.” She even gives a nod to the Pixies in her video of “Lights Out.” I thought I was the only black person in the world who even knew they ever existed.



The examples of white artists influenced by black culture haven’t stopped coming. From the beginnings of slavery white musicians have borrowed heavily from black culture. Black music has been at the heart of music in America and inspiration for white musicians abroad. But the borrowing comes with some backlash. Black British soul singer Estelle complained that white British singers such as Duffy and Adele were getting far more attention from the British music industry simply for being white. White kids grow up listening to a couple of Aretha Franklin records and suddenly they’re great soul singers? Maybe, maybe not. There has to be more than just a desire to imitate. There has to be a genuine respect and understanding for the culture and the ability to make something new out of it. Otherwise we might as well go back to the days of the minstrel. Adele may not be a soul singer, but if the British press is so ignorant of what soul sounds like than perhaps Estelle has reason to complain. Or the confusion may be the price paid of the blurring and borrowing that allows for more creativity.

CRUNK IT?

Santigold crunk? A little too commercial, but maybe she'd catch on if she were given more of the Three 6 Mafia treatment. I'm not a fan of commerical rap, so let this point the way to the pure Santigold. My fav Santigold song "Shove It" recently got the treatment from Project Pat of Three 6 Mafia. But the appeal of Santigold is that she can't be put in the typical categories. She's a black woman who does rock, dub and new wave? It's nuts. I'm hopeful this venture into crunk is just a short detour, but it's hard to mess up Santigold. Listen if you must.


"SHOVE IT"

Deep underground

Listening to music on Myspace home of the unknown musician. It caters to all, good and bad. Milwaukee artist The Lmntlyst is among the good and should be better known. The make up of The Lmntlyst seems a little mysterious. It appears to a one man operation. The influences are varied and ultra cool. The sound is ambient at times without being too sleepy. Rock, jazz and hip mix with influences from Bowie and the middle east. Check out remix of Radiohead's "Reckoner."

www.myspace.com/thelmntlyst

Certain Stars do rock in a way that's familar, but still intriging. They remind me of an old sound that's been lost over the years. Critics call them a power pop band, but pop makes my skin crawl anf Certain Stars doesn't do that. They're more anti-pop pop. Check out "Can U Dig It. "

www.myspace.com/certainstars

Milwaukee is cooler than you think folks.