‘The Architecture of Everything’ at James May Gallery

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Photo: James May Gallery

Damien Hoar de Galvan, ‘Yellow/Purple’

Damien Hoar de Galvan, ‘Yellow/Purple’

Writing cultural criticism is a dicey endeavor for so many reasons, not the least of which is because we are living inside a kaleidoscope at the moment. Only 20 years ago our Tik Tok equivalent was flipping through a coffee table book at Borders in a mall. Half the words in that sentence don’t even make sense anymore. But even when the world was less fractured in terms of fashion, forms, media and points-of-view, there was the problem of whether and how much an art experience hinges on context. How much do variable, external circumstances matter? Aristotle or Plato? Can one give a particular wine a numeric score irrespective of whether it is being consumed under perfect control … or after three beers, while chewing gum and bouncing around in the back seat of a party bus? If this scenario seems esoteric or impractical, consider that Alexander Payne made an entire movie called Sideways that hinged on the very idea.

The other day I was about to drive to Chicago to see an exhibition. I read some news on my phone, sighed, and walked outside to sheets of cold rain. I was reminded of the coming days of coats, boots and wincing at the sight of doors leading to the outside world. So I waved a white flag and decided to go to the James May Gallery instead. Located on Farwell Avenue in the building that formerly housed the Kenilworth Gallery, the gallery began in Algoma, Wis., under the care of owners Kendra Bulgrin and James Eddings before relocating to Milwaukee earlier this year.

Wisconsin Art Scene

As is the case within the cozy Wisconsin art scene in the age of social media, I knew of Bulgrin and Eddings without having met them. I actually hadn’t even been to the gallery. So when I walked into the gorgeously lit space from the rain and saw a smiling woman at the desk beyond the beautiful terrazzo floor, I presumed it to be Kendra. I was correct. We mutually put faces to names and discussed the Milwaukee art scene for at least an hour before she took me through her current exhibition, “The Architecture of Everything.”

The show features work by Liz Rundorff Smith, Ellen Weider, and Damien Hoar de Galvan. Hoar de Galvan’s pop-povera, Richard Tuttle-esque constructions sit on pedestals in the center of the gallery, surrounded on the walls by neon-on-raw-linen diagrammatic compositions by Weider, and luscious encaustic paintings by Smith. The show is delightful … and was delightful; it was so just-what-I-needed. The juicy color and raw materiality of the work wasn’t only rejuvenating, it was affirming. Sometimes when it’s sunnier, when I’m sunnier, I can dive into floor-and-drawer conceptualism, watch experimental video, absorb social traumas, confront personal dramas, and face political upheaval, but at times like those, when the world is heavy, it’s time for some candy, color, and coziness. And “The Architecture of Everything” offers it in abundance.

As bright and sweet as the show is, Bulgrin herself made the work that much more luminous. I even bought a piece from the show, which I rarely can afford to do. But it was cheaper than therapy and still more therapeutic. Clearly, I’m not a Platonist, or I wasn’t on that Tuesday. I don’t think anyone in Milwaukee was. When the bullets are flying and the rain is coming down, we tend to look to the support that context alone provides. When the bullets stop and the sun comes out, we tend to go back to giving wine numeric scores free of any terrestrial consideration. That day, I had a hamburger with my plastic cup of Chateau Cheval Blanc.

Event Listings October 22– October 28, 2023

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio
• Sunday, October 22, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Cedarburg Cultural Center

• Opening Reception: “Foursights: The Art of Jonathan Ellis, Bev Richey, Miriam Sushman & Adria Willenson”
• Sunday, October 22, 1–4 p.m.

Cedarburg Cultural Center

• Opening Reception: “Autumn Spotlight: The Art of Kristin Gjerdset & Bunnie Werth,"
• Sunday, October 22, 1–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights
• Sunday, October 22, 2–3 p.m.

MARN ART + CULTURE HUB

• Passion Driven Work, the design of PurposeMade
• Monday, October 23, 4:30–6 p.m.

Lynden Sculpture Garden

• 2023 Garden Work Days
• Tuesday, October 24, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.

Milwaukee Public Library, Main Branch

• Art For All!
• Tuesday, October 24, 5:30–7:45 p.m.

Charles Allis Museum of Art

• Free First Wednesdays
• Wednesday, October 25, 1–5 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Group Therapy (Women): Black Space at MAM
• Wednesday, October 25, 5:30–7 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Haberman Local Luminaries: “Darrel Ellis: Regeneration”
• Thursday October 26, 6:15–7:15 p.m.

Saint Kate–The Arts Hotel

• Brit Krohmer Artist Talk
• Thursday, October 26, 6:30 p.m.

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts

• Opening Reception: 31st Annual Dia de Los Muertos Exhibition: “Caring for Each Other”
• Friday, October 27, 6–8 p.m.

Real Tinsel

• Opening Reception: “Edging”
• Friday, October 27, 6–8 p.m.

The Grotto at Real Tinsel

• Opening Reception: “Michael Davidson, Recent Paintings”
• Friday, October 27, 6–8 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio
• Saturday, October 28, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Story Time in the Galleries
• Saturday, October 28, 10:30–11 a.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights
• Saturday, October 28, 2–3 p.m.

Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA)

• Opening Party: “Disrupting Patterns,” Lon Michels
• Sunday, October 28, 2–4 p.m.