Playwright Lanford Wilson (1937-2011) won public acclaim and institutional acceptance after beginning his career on a decidedly subcultural and anti-institutional note. Before winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980 and writing plays for Broadway, Wilson was an influential figure in the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. It is fitting that a fringe artist with mainstream money should have a collector’s interest and superb taste in fringe art.
In 2012 the Milwaukee Art Museum was gifted the Lanford Wilson Collection of Self-Taught Art. In conjunction with “Accidental Genius: Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection” and “The Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American Folk Art,” the Wilson Collection’s 179 works by self-taught artists positions MAM as the leading North American institution in the oft-ignored category. From April 15-July 3, this nonpareil assemblage will be exhibited in “Taking Center Stage: The Lanford Wilson Collection of Self-Taught Art.” Along with paintings, sculptures and works on paper, “Taking Center Stage” features non-traditional media such as painted game boards and furniture.
2016 Senior Exhibition
Galleries at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD)
273 E. Erie St.
In MIAD’s 2016 Senior Exhibition, more than 130 emerging artists and designers present an array of works that please the eye, stir the soul, address the mind and improve the world. Industrial design major Emelie Troedson, for instance, worked with a physical therapist to design a device that helps children with Cerebral Palsy walk. The “Pawsitively Perfect” campaign, by communication design major Sara Petrolis, makes a compelling case for dog adoption with a handbook that preempts common issues with new pets. Other projects use props from 1960s and ’70s pornography to recreate ancient art, compile and illustrate an anthology of underrepresented Latin American poetry and create a sustainable process for developing nations to manufacture shoes. An opening reception will be held Friday, April 15 from 5-9 p.m., with the exhibition running through May 14.
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‘Roadside Attractions’
Museum of Wisconsin Art
205 Veterans Ave., West Bend
“Roadside Attractions,” on display through July 3, can make you see your daily commute with fresh eyes. The exhibition finds six photographers turning their lenses on Wisconsin’s highways and byways to capture unexpectedly beautiful views that most drivers overlook on account of familiarity or, more charitably, due to keeping their eyes on the road. “Roadside Attractions” has been installed along with two other photography exhibitions—Gregory Conniff’s “Watermarks” (through June 19) and Lois Bielefeld’s “On Faith” (through June 26)—meaning MOWA has a must-see cross-section of contemporary Wisconsin photography.
