Staycation: Paintings by Marc Anderson

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Image: Marc Anderson - mandersongallery.com

'Cave Point' by Marc Anderson

'Cave Point' by Marc Anderson

For most of us, art viewing is a nutritious but limited part of a more comprehensive media diet. We tend to go where our bread’s buttered: films for entertainment, newspapers for information, etc. A lot of us like art because it is illuminating, stimulating, nourishing, soulful, and emotionally satisfying, but we still save popcorn moments for Friday night. Occasionally though, some peas roll into the mashed potatoes, and we get an unexpected surprise in our consumptive plans.

The town of Cedarburg becomes a bumping little plein air destination for a week in early June each year. Its quaint downtown is converted into an impromptu studio and subject for dozens of painters centered around an event called “Paint Cedarburg.” Seeing the participants with all their sunbrellas and portable easels made me remember a show at the Cedarburg Art Museum I’d missed. “Staycation: Paintings by Marc Anderson” was on my radar from an encounter with the work last summer at the Door County Plein Air Festival. So I kind of knew what to expect. Still, seeing Anderson’s observational paintings inside a converted Victorian home, in a town full of earnest mostly amateur enthusiasts lifted me. It stood as a contrast to so many starchy white-walled cubic interiors from recent days, most from a recent trip to New York.

Anderson’s suite of a dozen-or-so deftly rendered compositions sourced from Wisconsin’s diverse terrain rushed me with a wave of freshness. Not in a 1980s chewing gum commercial way … but kind of. My eyes clearly needed a cold shower. His medium-sized canvas 30 Knot Morning features a view of an active morning on Lake Superior, viewed from a rugged dolostone shore on Madeline Island. The vista wouldn’t seem unfamiliar to anyone who has watched the sun rise from the Cave Point in Door County as well. Glorious.

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Image: Mark Anderson - mandersongallery.com

'She Wore an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Canvas Boat Bimini' by Marc Anderson

'She Wore an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Canvas Boat Bimini' by Marc Anderson

His control and application of shadowy cool morning color against a warm sherbet-hued rip of horizon is masterful, and the loose handling of paint, with searching brushstrokes and palette knives, is delightful. Likewise, Anderson’s small painting Troubled Bridge over Troubled Water captures the light and form of a rocky creek in Governor Dodge State Park with perfect economy. It’s so right and so easy all at once. That George Inness green gets me every time. It made me think that painting like this begs one to pick up a paint brush in the same way the Velvets made kids want to start bands. Which is probably why there are so many people dotting the city of Cedarburg holding brushes and wearing sunhats.

Anderson’s show isn’t big. It’s modest of size, numbers, concept, subject, and media. At a time of excess of stuff, size, and self-regard in the art world though, seeing someone fully in control of the fundamentals of moving paint around is lovely. In addition to looking outside of oneself for pictorial inspiration, this all makes for a breath of art viewing fresh air. Like many in the contemporary art world I am guilty of taking plein air painting for granted, but not with any prejudice. Painting alla prima outdoors is a fine and worthwhile pursuit, but It’s a specialty practice anymore; a place kicker in a world of performance art defensive ends, or to keep the metaphor going, a satisfying micro green in a world of painted desserts and steak-ey social sculpture. Meat-and-potatoes conceptualism does provide a great deal of purchase on the interior world of the artist, and of social politics. But it’s good to remember what we share on the outside as well as the inside now and again.

Openings

June 18–June 24, 2023

Lynden Sculpture Garden

• Discovering the Urban Forest
• Sunday, June 18, a.m.–12 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-in Art Making
• In Person
• Sunday, June 18, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-in Tour: Highlights from the Collection 
• In Person
• Sunday, June 18, 2–3 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Lakefront Festival of Art
• In Person
• Entry fee required
• Sunday, June 18, a.m.–5 p.m.

Jewish Museum Milwaukee

• Mel Brooks Double Feature: The Producers and To Be Or Not to Be 
• Wednesday, June 21, 5- 9 p.m.

Charles Allis Art Museum

• Opening Reception for Siara Berry, “On the Grounds of”
• Thursday, June 22, 5–8 p.m.

Lynden Sculpture Garden

• Labyrinth Society of Linden Sculpture Garden: Summer Solstice Sound Bath + Labyrinth Walk, with Artist-in-Residence Jenna Knapp and collaborator Sevan Arabajian
• Tuesday, June 20, 7:00 pm–8:30 pm

Home 2023: World Refugee Day at Milwaukee City Hall

• Milwaukee City Hall, 200 E. Wells St.
• The program will include art, music, dance and poetry from refugee communities, hands-on art making activities, and food trucks
• Tuesday, June 20, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Gallery Talk: “Native America: In Translation”
• In Person
• Thursday, June 22, 12–1 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Member Mingle + Gallery Talk: “Native America: In Translation”
• June 22, 5–7 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-in Art Making
• In Person
• Saturday, June 24, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

1. Story Time in the Galleries
2. In Person
3. Saturday, June 24, 10:30–11:30 a.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Artist Gallery Talk: “Scandinavian Design and the United States”
• In Person
• Saturday, June 24, 1–2 p.m.

OS Projects 

• Lisa Englander, “GRAMMAR LESSONS,” Artist Talk
• Saturday, June 24, 1:30 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights
• Saturday, June 24, 2–3 p.m.

Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum

• “Mestiere Biennale” Michael Ware Studio Tour and Demonstration. A guided tour of the Villa Terrace’s exhibition of contemporary craft in Greater Milwaukee “Mestiere Biennale” 
• Tickets at villaterrace.org for tickets.
• Saturday, June 24, 10:30 a.m.–2 p.m.