The State of the State’s Art in the 2018 Wisconsin Artists Biennial
The Wisconsin Artists Biennial is the Oscars of the local visual arts scene. Inclusion in the highly selective juried exhibition is tantamount to a nomination and a few of the 46 artists will receive more than the career-boosting prestige of participation. $10,000 in cash prizes will be dispersed, including $5,000 for the first place winner, the largest cash award of any arts competition in the state. More valuable still is the solo exhibition at the Museum of Wisconsin Art that the first place winner also receives.
“This Biennial has a really strong group of emerging artists,” says Laurie Winters, the CEO/executive director of the Museum of Wisconsin Art, “many of whom are working with unconventional materials. I’ve never seen a biennial with so much paper before. Not just prints and photographs, but paper constructions, sculptures, book-based art.”
The 2018 Wisconsin Artists Biennial also reflects trends in how contemporary artists are working. “For the first time, a number of artist collectives have pieces in the show,” notes Winters, “It’s an interesting social commentary on art production today. Younger artists are working more collaboratively.” One of these collectives, Madison’s Spooky Boobs Collective, will perform at 2:30 p.m. during the Biennial’s opening party on Saturday, Feb. 3, from 2-5 p.m.
“Wisconsin Modernists: Rebels from Regionalism”
Cedarburg Art Museum
W63 N675 Washington Ave., Cedarburg
There is an unfortunate and erroneous tendency to equate regional art with folksy, middlebrow work: accurate, if uninspired, paintings of Midwestern landscapes. “Wisconsin Modernists: Rebels from Regionalism” gives the lie to this prejudice with more than 70 artworks by 30 Wisconsin artists working from the 1930s through the 1960s whose depiction of the heartland was unmistakably modern. The exhibition selects the works from private collections, making this a unique opportunity to view the art. “Wisconsin Modernists: Rebels from Regionalism” opens with a reception on Friday, Feb. 2, from 5-7:30 p.m. At 6 p.m., Kevin Milaeger, one of the exhibition’s lenders, will speak about collecting Wisconsin art.
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“Fire On Ice”
Black Cat Alley
Alley between E. Kenilworth Place and E. Ivanhoe Place
Exhibiting urinals in galleries, painting Brillo boxes that are indistinguishable from actual Brillo boxes: artists relish subversive juxtapositions and paradoxes. “Fire On Ice,” taking place from 12-3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3, is a similar sort of exercise. Local artists Todd Mrozinski and Renee Bebeau will paint fiery flames on four-foot-wide slabs of ice. The live painting event is the latest to take place in Black Cat Alley, the East Side’s bastion of street art, where an on-site bonfire will counteract the bite of winter. Afterwards, viewers are invited to join the artists at the future space of the Sip & Purr Cat Café (2021 E. Ivanhoe Place) to create paper fire collages.
