Courtesy of saveartspace.org/milwaukee
Vaughan Larsen, a 2019 Nohl Fellow, recently announced Milwaukee’s first outdoor queer art show using billboards throughout the city as its medium. Curated by Vaughan as an extension of That Way, an Instagram account and printed zine featuring weekly takeovers of LGBTQ+ artists, “Queering the Cream City” promises to “add contemporary LGBTQ+ art to the streets of Milwaukee.” The exhibit will be on display from July 23 through August 23. A parallel exhibition takes place at the contemporary art gallery, The Alice Wilds, located in Walker’s Point. Selected works will be displayed in either the gallery setting or on a billboard.
Joining Vaughan as curators are T.J. Dedeaux- Norris and Laurence Philomene. Both have been featured artists on the That Way page. The trio is inviting LGBTQ+ artists in all media to submit their work for consideration by June 7.
“Queering the Cream City” adds an LGBTQ angle Milwaukee’s tradition of summer plein air art established in 2017 by Sculpture Milwaukee. That annual event transforms the downtown cityscape with three-dimensional art. As the first ever queer billboard art exhibit featuring local artists, it also becomes part of Milwaukee’s storied LGBTQ art history.
That history goes back nearly a quarter century. During the waning years of the 20th century, I was curator for the gallery I established at the LGBT Community Center. The gallery intended not only to give LGBTQ artists a queer friendly outlet but also, through participation in the Third Ward Gallery Nights, to introduce the queer art genre to Milwaukee’s greater art world. The only restriction imposed by the center at the time, ironically enough, was no male nudity.
The creation of Milwaukee Gay Arts Center (MGAC) followed in 2005. MGAC’s art shows, theater and musical performances as well as its varied outreach programs intended to deliver the message, “Art is life. Queer art is queer life.” Sadly, a decade later after its founding, gentrification of the gayborhood resulted in MGAC’s closure.
For its part, the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) has brought queer art to the discerning viewer over the years with major exhibits featuring LGBTQ identified artists such as Gilbert & George, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and, most recently, transwoman Jamie Nares. “Oranges on Fire,” a MAM billboard art installation in 2015, promoted the museum’s retrospective art exhibition of the works of photographer Larry Sultan.
The Pfister Hotel’s current artist in residence, transman Nykoli Kuslow, represents another moment of the integration of LGBTQ art into the mainstream. Meanwhile, renegade street artist Jeremy Novy has made his mark throughout the city with his famous koi and queer themed stencils.
Interestingly, while not presenting art per se, billboards have provided the medium for communicating LGBTQ awareness. Both Cream City Foundation’s “Gay Neighbor” in 2008, and, a year later, Diverse & Resilient’s “Acceptance Journeys” campaigns were designed to predicate dialogue, positively impact attitudes and, by extension, alleviate HIV+ stigma.
This summer, the “Queering the Cream City” project adds to the ever-expanding narrative of Milwaukee’s queer art history. Artists will find submission information at saveartspace.org/milwaukee.
