The fall line-up at Portrait Society Gallery celebrates local shutterbugs and the unusual pockets of Milwaukee they immortalize. This week, two exhibitions supplement the recently unveiled “Faces of a Fish Empire,” a posthumous exhibition of Empire Fish Company employee portraits taken over the course of several decades by former owner Tom Kutchera.
The focus of “Blyth Renate Meier: Good Morning, Milwaukee” is the faces of the city’s buildings rather than the faces of its citizens. By turning her viewfinder towards the heavens or finding the perfect distance from her subject, Meier captures the majesty of Milwaukee’s architecture as well as the intoxicating geometry hidden in the buildings’ facades.
For many years, Art Elkon was a fixture on Milwaukee’s arts scene, often to be found camera in hand at concerts and exhibition openings. With his passing in August of 2015, Milwaukee lost one of its most faithful and gifted cultural documentarians. “A Social Forever: Art Elkon” is the first display of Elkon’s photos outside the confines of social media.
An opening reception for “Blyth Renate Meier: Good Morning, Milwaukee” and “A Social Forever: Art Elkon” takes place at Portrait Society Gallery on Friday, Sept. 9 from 6-9 p.m.
“Make You See Stars” and ART/BEER Inaugural Show
The Pitch Project
706 S. Fifth St.
To celebrate the opening of the new ART/BEER Lounge, a coterie of local artists have been commissioned to create works inspired by Brenner Brewing’s line of beers, which furnish such evocative prompts as “Butterfly Farts Citrus Ale,” “Bacon Bomb Rauchbier” and “Affenkönig [Ape King] Hopfenweisse.” “Make You See Stars,” by Chicago-based artist Mike Rea, is the inaugural exhibition in the gallery adjacent to the ART/BEER Lounge. The 10-foot-by-10-foot-by-11-foot installation consists of 33 wooden shooting stars. Both exhibitions open with a reception on Saturday, Sept. 10 from 3-6 p.m.
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“Who Amongst Us?”
Timothy Cobb Fine Arts
207 E. Buffalo St., Lobby
“Who Amongst Us?” takes its title from the question, who amongst us has fully averted our human instinct, no matter how subtle, to supplicate in some way? The exhibition features oil paintings by Peter Schassler and sculptures by James Matson. “Few people in Milwaukee have seen his work,” says Timothy Cobb of Schassler, “though he is one of the best painters in the state.” Cobb lends a mystique to Matson’s sculpture by asserting, “His work lends a feeling of contended solitude while demanding you step closer to introduce yourself.” See what it’s all about at an opening reception with the artists on Friday, Sept. 9, 6-9 p.m.
