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This month, I'm going to take you on a little funky gallery
night tour.
Funky Art World was closed for the evening so I decided to hit
the streets to see some of the other galleries and artists in
the city. The gallery night thing is big, huge, gigantic—way
too many places to hit in one night for the funky art man. I set
out at around six with the intent to go to Luckystar Gallery
to see what's new with Judith Moriarty.
My first stop, however, was Studio 218 and Vicki Inc.
Right away, there was Vicki in her window, painting this
bikini-clad model, only she wasn't painting a portrait—she was
painting on the model! It looked like fun and I wanted to join
in. I took a mental note that the funky art man will have to get
his own bikini-clad model to paint on in the privacy of his own
studio. For Vicki it worked out as great performance art and
cool window dressing to boot.
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I slid on back into Studio 218, acquired a glass of wine and
checked out the art on display. There was a guitar-playing guy
of whom I was not acquainted with and did not get his name but
he added nicely to the atmosphere at 218. I finished my second
glass of wine and I was out the door. I then stopped by The
Social where one of restaurant/club's employees, Kate Cullen,
who also happened to be an artist, had her work on display. I
look forward to seeing more from Kate.
Next up MIAD's Strange Brew Café and Gallery featuring Milwaukee
Big Guns. As far as I could tell they were doing some
performance conceptual art with some guy yelling at folks to
come inside from atop a ladder. I went inside and saw some
soiled plates and napkins pinned to the wall. I conversed with
this perky college girl about what they were doing. She said
some stuff about “public installation art” … blah blah,
“conceptual” yadda yadda … Tack up your stuff, come back,
win door prizes (whatever).
I bought a soda, drank it, pinned the cup on the wall, hooked up
with Nick Carter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and
our own man about town, Mark Shurilla, then cut out. I was a
little confused but none the worse for the wear. Maybe it was
the quick glasses of zinfandel but I didn't get what Big Guns
were kickin'. Yo Big Guns: write in and explain.
We ventured off the map looking for Oranje, where we
found the “Twenty Years of Clubbing” exhibit of Veronica
Rusnak … the photos were great and you got a good sence
of the early ‘80s rock & roll history she was a part of.
Mark was checking out a shot of himself in earlier times when he
was fronting the Electric Assholes. We hung for a bit then
zipped back over to Studio 218, where Nick and Mark still hadn't
been that night. Vicki was still painting and a new band, the
duo Fred and Ethel, was playing. I was really digging the art
and two more glasses of wine helped.
We were off again, this time to LuckyStar, but first we popped
into the Elaine Erickson Gallery for a little high brow
art flavor. We had to be kinda quiet, but the paintings,
featuring the works of Wisconsin artists Joseph Liebert and
Santos Zingale, were simply exquisite.
Onward to LuckyStar Studio on E. Buffalo St., where we
found the most popular event of the night and a crowd outside as
well as inside. In the middle were the LuckyStar couple, Bridget
and Gene Evans, soaking up the party-like atmosphere. The
“Girls Girls Girls” show was off the hook. As Gallery night
wound down, I never did get to tell Judith how much I admired
her work. She had retired to home before I got there. Karen,
your work is kicking. And Ms. Amy O'Neill, I would love
to do a spot light on you. I think your work has that funky
flavor. So, and thus, the party ended at LuckyStar. The wine and
cheese thing is great but Lucky had beer on tap. Word.
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