Anthony Smith, Jr, Who is Prester John? No. 11

Colin Matthes, US Foreign Military Interventions: a list of locations from 1801-2009, ink on paper, 11 x 140,” 2009–2010; (sources: Naval Historical Center 1801–1993 and Zoltan Grossman, Geography Faculty, Evergreen State College 1994–2009)

Colin Matthes, details of Staying Afloat, ink and mixed media on paper mounted to panel with removable archival framers, adhesive, nine panels, 30 x 42 x 1.5” each, 2009–2010

Sailing the Barbarous Coast: work by Colin Matthes and Anthony Smith

Friday, June 18 through Saturday, July 17, 2010

Opening reception: Friday, June 18, 5–9 pm

Sailing the Barbarous Coast is a provocative two-person exhibition conceived and organized by a Milwaukee-based Nohl Fellow, Colin Matthes and a New Yorker, Anthony Smith, Jr. This is the first unveiling of the show in the Midwest, after two critically acclaimed exhibitions at The New Art Center in Newton, MA and at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, which took place earlier this year.

Ambitiously conceived to wittingly speak of the most aching realities of today’s world, Sailing the Barbarous Coast reflects a sense of uncertainty in the midst of economic insecurity, social unrest and global strife. The title of the show, derived from the location of the US’s first foreign military intervention in Tripoli in 1801, reflects the dark side of the American Dream. Both Matthes and Smith create works that speak of America’s everyday – but often overlooked – calamities: war and consumerism, race and sex, environmental damage and the current global fiscal crisis. The artists draw connections between militarism, spending, excessive consumption, economic hardship and environmental disasters. And even though their work captures the events that have global implications, they are always captured through the lens of the artists’ own, often tumultuous, personal experience. Combining keen humor, irony and a dose of mischief, Matthes and Smith relate their own lives to those of ordinary Americans, trying to “stay afloat” during the time of economic downturn and credit crunch. 

The exhibition pairs Anthony Smith’s impassioned, gestural, sequential paintings with Colin Matthes’ brusque, site-specific installation based in obsessive drawing practice. Balancing serious critical attitude with dark humor in the spirit of Dada, the artists question our relationships to the contemporary world, and especially, our participation in the activities we do not necessarily endorse.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Anthony Smith, Jr.'s was born in 1976 in Dallas, Texas and raised in Plant City, Florida. He earned his undergraduate degree as a double major in Fine Arts and Political Science at Amherst College in 1999, completing his B.A. degree program with thesis research on landscape painting techniques while on study abroad in Europe. In 2001, he went on to receive a MFA in Painting from the University of Michigan. Anthony finished his graduate education at an exchange program in Japan at Kyoto Seika University where he studied wood-block printmaking.

Alongside his developing career as a painter, Anthony has been a research associate at the national desk of The New York Times since 2002. In that capacity, Anthony has contributed to several important articles. He has also worked in various arts organizations in Michigan, Maine and Massachusetts. In 2001, Anthony moved to New York City where he currently resides in the Inwood section of Manhattan.

Colin Matthes lives in Milwaukee, WI and works across a range of media including drawing, sculpture, installation, public art, print, and collective projects. He works collectively with Justseeds Artist’s Cooperative. His work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at the Igloo Gallery, Portland, OR, 58 Gallery, Jersey City, NJ, New York City, Chicago, IL, San Jose, CA, Ljubljana, Slovenia, vanabbemuseum Eindhoven, Copenhagen, Denmark and many others. Colin has been a recipient of many grants, awards and residencies. Among them Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for Emerging Artists in 2007, Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Export Grant for the Individual Artist, and grants from IN:SITE, Temporary Public Art Program. He has been an artist in residence at AS220 in Providence, RI, Harold Arts in Chesterhill, OH and Hotel Pupik in Austria. Colin received his BFA from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and his MFA from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Adey's daughter Muslimo reading, giclee on rag paper, 24"w x 16," 2010

Ma Ra Sul Bi's nephew gets married, giclee on rag paper, 24" x 16," 2010

Three veterans of Burma's 8888 uprising, giclee on rag paper, 24" x 16," 2010

Kay's son tends chickens, Giclee on rag paper, 24" x 16," 2010

Sisters Yarey and Adey outside Adey's apartment, giclee on rag paper, 24" x 16," 2010

Here, There, and Elsewhere: Refugee Families in Milwaukee – John Ruebartsch and Sally Kuzma

Friday, July 23 through Saturday, August 28th.

Opening Reception: Summer Gallery Night, July 23, 5–9 pm

Sunday, July 25th, 2 pm – panel discussion

Milwaukee has a long history as a city shaped by immigrants; waves of diverse Europeans fleeing poverty and oppression once made it the most “foreign” city in America, notes historian John Gurda. In the last 30 years, it has become home to people fleeing violence in places like Southeast Asia and Africa. Here, There, and Elsewhere looks at the experiences of these newer arrivals as they rebuild their lives and communities and become part of 21st century Milwaukee.
Those who share their stories here include: a Hmong woman who farms 22 acres in Oak Creek; two Somali Bantu sisters, both single mothers juggling work and family; a Lao pastor and his congregation; a former shopkeeper from Sudan; a man who left Viet Nam to join his brothers in the US; a Muslim family from Burma embedded in a rich social network; a Burundian native making a home here after 35 years in a refugee camp; Somali girls preparing to go to Africa for the summer. Events from their wider communities are also pictured – a Ramadan service; a commemoration of a political uprising; a new community association in the making; a baptism in a church that embraces people of the African diaspora past and present.
The arrival of newcomers often raises questions for others - Where do they come from? Why are they here? How do they live? How does their presence here change this place? To open up these questions and see our common humanity amidst cultural differences is the challenge of this work.

~ Sally Kuzma

About the artists:

John Ruebartsch is a Milwaukee-based photographer and documentarian whose editorial and creative work has been shown locally at Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum, WPCA and other galleries, and nationally at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC. Recognized by the Wisconsin Humanities Council as a public scholar, his credits include award-winning children's books, (No Bad News, Albert Whitman & Co., 2001; Grandpa's Treasure, Visual Generation, 2007), and documentary films on the struggles of an indigenous community in Mexico (Voices of the Sierra Tarahumara, Sundance, 2001). His documentary film on Minnesota conservationist Ernest Oberholtzer (Ober’s Island: A Living Legacy, 2009) recently aired on Twin Cities Public TV. His own experiences as the child of refugee parents  – his family fled Eastern Europe for the US when he was four – give him an important point of connection with the immigrant families in this project.

Sally Kuzma is a visual artist and teacher whose digitally-based prints, installations, and drawings are often focused on intimate observations of nature and particular places. Her work has been exhibited regionally and nationally, commissioned for public spaces, and is in collections from Armenia to Grinnell, Iowa. This collaborative project with the photographer John Ruebartsch is her first documentary, and grew out of daily encounters with adult refugees in her job as an ESL instructor in Milwaukee. Her background growing up in a community of Eastern European immigrants in upstate New York informs her interest in the different ways people rebuild their identities and communities in a new place.

This travelling exhibition is supported in part by the Wisconsin Humanities Council, with funds from the National Endowment of the Humanities and the State of Wisconsin; the Wisconsin Arts Board; and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jared Janovec, view of studio with work in progress

Jared Janovec

Re-seeding: New Work

Friday, July 23 through Saturday, August 28th.

Opening Reception: Summer Gallery Night, July 23, 5–9 pm

Jared Janovec creates sculptural narratives about the history of the human animal and its evolutionary quest to tame and isolate itself from the wild. His ceramic pieces reference human anatomy and various botanical and organic forms. The artist encapsulates the antagonism between culture and nature through formal contrasts and opposing referents: large and small, wet and dry, light and dark, old and new, ripeness and decay, life and death. The curiosities and contradictions of human invention, discovery and power become fodder for his creations.

Jared Janovec (b. 1973, Manhattan, KS) is an artist and educator, whose main interest is ceramic and mixed media sculpture. His work has been shown in numerous nationally recognized exhibitions and is included in many collections, such as the Arizona State University Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center and the private collection of Sanford Besser, a prominent collector of contemporary ceramic art. Janovec is currently an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he teaches courses in Ceramics and 3-D Design. He currently resides in Whitewater, Wisconsin.

Annual Members Show

Friday, September 10 through October 16, 2010

Closing Reception: Fall Gallery Night, Friday, October 15, 5–9 pm

For nearly two decades WPCA has offered its members opportunity to exhibit their work in the annual Members Show. Every year, this democratic, salon-style show brings together over 70 artists at various points of their careers, of diverse backgrounds, and working in a wide range of media and styles. Annual Members Show reveals a rich variety of “art worlds” that constitute Wisconsin art scene. While creative passion and drive to make art are the common threads connecting those diverse “worlds,” our exhibition also reveals variety of motivations and reasons that fuel them. It is a unique opportunity to celebrate and foster the democratic nature of creativity.

2010 marks a special moment as we can host our members' work in our new home. We are preparing exciting innovations to this years' edition. Check back soon for more details.