When we reminisce about the good ol’ days, we pine for the lax pace of life but overlook the lax environmental laws. While we would prefer to whitewash the past, it’s the job of the artist to let the smog stains show through.
Such is the task of C. Matthew Luther’s installation “Same Old Sh*T...and other bad jokes about my relationship with the landscape,” on display at Greymatter Gallery until Oct. 19. The photographer turns his lens on Superfund Sites in Wisconsin, that is, those areas of uncontrolled hazardous waste that the Environmental Protection Agency has begun to clean up. The artist’s perspective is that of someone suffering from Crohn’s Disease, a debilitating inflammatory bowel disease suspected to be caused by environmental factors. Photographs are intermixed with video, sound, printmaking and 3D elements to document what happens when we violate the commandment “Honor thy Mother Earth.”
Join Greymatter and Luther on Friday, Sept. 19, from 5-9 p.m. for an artist’s reception and benefit for Crohn’s Disease research. Luther will give a talk at 7 p.m. and donations will be taken that evening and through the duration of the show.
“A Re-Visioning: New Works In Polymer”
H.F. Johnson Gallery of Art
2001 Alford Park Drive
Let us not speak with ribbons on our tongues: polymer is not the sexiest of materials. That honor goes to velvet or silk—or latex, if you’re into that. But a new exhibition at Carthage College’s H.F. Johnson Gallery of Art argues for the aesthetic appeal of polymer’s mimetic possibilities. The exhibition collects works by polymer’s premier beauticians of the past thirty years—which is to say, the history of polymer as art. “A Re-Visioning” opens with a reception on Thursday, Sept. 18, 4:30-7:30 p.m. and closes on Oct. 25.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Daredevils
UW-Milwaukee Union Theatre
2400 E. Kenwood Blvd.
Daredevilry is not restricted to leaping a fleet of buses on a motorcycle. Any quixotic pursuit liable to land one in physical or financial trouble is worthy of the name. A new film by artist Stephanie Barber pays tribute to the risks that bedevil the artist’s life and work. Daredevils itself takes the risk of blending video art and narrative storytelling to create a poetic essay the likes of which one doesn’t often see on the silver screen. Devotees of the Milwaukee theater scene will recognize local actress Flora Coker in the role of the artist. Daredevils will be screened at UWM's Union Theatre, Friday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.
