Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) was ahead of his time. Even today Rauschenberg’s diverse and subversive stylings leave the art world scratching its head. After all, how does one label an artist whose oeuvre includes Erased de Kooning Drawing (a blank piece of paper that, pre-erasure, would currently be worth tens of thousands), “Combines” (a series of works that incorporate trash found on the street) and the Grammy-winning album design for the Talking Heads’ 1983 album Speaking in Tongues?
Rauschenberg was not only artistically advanced, he was also prophetic in his environmental conscientiousness. “Global Matters: Rauschenberg Print Media 1968-1975” collects works that show the artist grappling with topics such as the Vietnam War, the Apollo Moon Landing and the Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969. Thirteen prints and “cardbirds” (in which Rauschenberg dignifies cardboard as a ‘high art’ material) will be brought together for their first collective exhibition in the UW-Milwaukee Art History Gallery.
“Global Matters” opens with a reception on Wednesday, April 22 (i.e. Earth Day 2015) from 4:30-6:30 p.m., and will be on display until May 7 at the UWM Art History Gallery (Mitchell Hall 154), 3203 N. Downer Ave. Two lectures will supplement the exhibition. On Wednesday, April 29 at 11:30 a.m., Professor Gregory Martens will discuss Rauschenberg’s printing process; and, on Thursday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m., Professor Kenneth Bendiner will discuss the artist’s use of iconography.
“Spring Splooshing”
Lake Country Fine Arts School and Gallery
112 W. Capitol Drive, Hartland
In early 2008, Noelle Kraemer had recently graduated early from high school and was in the process of joining the Peace Corps when life threw her a cruel curveball in the form of a serious car accident. The road to recovery has been long and Kraemer has found therapeutic solace in painting. Instead of treating limited fine motor function as a constraint, Kraemer opts for evocative, impressionistic daubs of paint, which she has onomatopoetically dubbed “splooshes.” From April 25 through May 15, Kraemer’s canvasses will be on display at the Lake Country Fine Arts School and Gallery. The works are on sale and 25% of the proceeds will be donated to the Brain Injury Resource Center of Wisconsin.
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“High | Low | Middle”
Kenilworth Square East
1925 E. Kenilworth Place
“At the Museum of Wisconsin Art, we know that innovative and important art-making is thriving in Wisconsin, a place often unfairly considered to be outside of the high art world,” says MOWA Executive Director and CEO Laurie Winters. “High | Low | Middle,” a one-night-only (5 p.m. until midnight) pop-up event on Friday, April 24, is the culmination of a weeklong expedition across Wisconsin undertaken by three artists in an attempt to locate the cultural “middle” of a state that spans cultural extremes. The multimedia result blends artifacts, interviews and visual data to create a sculptural installation mapping the weird and wonderful cultural topography of Wisconsin.
For more arts coverage, visit expressmilwaukee.com and click on MKE Arts.
