Colescott’s personalnarratives cover some 60 years in the MAM exhibition titled “WarringtonColescott: Cabaret, Comedy & Satire” (June 10 through Sept. 26).
Mary Weaver Chapin, MAMassociate curator of prints and drawings, and Colescott formed an extraordinarycollaboration to produce the retrospective. They carefully selected about 100prints over a four-year process.
The wide-rangingretrospective includes Colescott’s 1948 Ladyat Leisure and 2008 Mardi Gras at theGay Ball from his “Suite Louisiana”series.New Orleans became a second home of sorts forColescott and his wife, artist Frances Myers. The city’s quirky lifestyles,both during the day and at night, often filter through Colescott’s mind. Aseries from The Big Easy concurrently appears at the New Orleans Museum of Art(NOMA) in “Sweet Suite Louisiana,”a tribute to Colescott’s Creole heritage.
Cut print plates with asuperb use of white space feature intense images that draw the eye into everycorner to examine each mark Colescott makes. By applying numerous techniquesand mediums, including found prints, crayon, pastel and pen, Colescott inventshis own continually evolving process.
To document Colescott’sillustrious career, Chapin authored ThePrints of Warrington Colescott: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1948-2008,which elaborates on the artist’s life andmore than 350 prints. The elegant catalog not only transforms Colescott’s workinto a reference book for printmaking, but also records his pointed views onsociety, which will resonate far beyond the retrospective.
This exhibitionencapsulates Colescott’s bawdy, biting and very humorous commentary. He’salready planning a new image for “Suite Louisiana”on the recent Gulf oil disaster. This will allow him to revisit a November 1986print, Leak,which satirized a spill from a pipeline.
Colescott’s mind andhands constantly create, and as Chapin comments, “Warrington doesn’t play by the rules… Hiscuriosity and intellect are too wild.”
An opening receptionfrom 5:30-8 p.m. June 10 includes a lecture by Colescott at 6:15 p.m. Themuseum also plans a lecture and book signing on July 8 at 5:30 p.m. Additionalprogramming for all ages will incorporate Colescott’s art into the MAM’s summerschedule.
In an effort to promotethe art of drawing, Bucketworks (706 S. Fifth St.)hosts DrawCamp on Saturday, June 12. Registration for the daylong event beginsat 9 a.m. A party is planned for celebrating the day’s seminars and experiencesat 9 p.m. The organization asks for donations of $10 or more, with a portion ofthe proceeds to benefit ArtWorks for Milwaukee.To register online, visit www.drawcamp.org.
