We are a hale and hearty bunch, aren’t we? Art lovers sure, but there must be another name for those who would venture out in below-zero wind chills to see the latest our galleries have to offer. If you have a name, please let us know—the 21st century is all about branding, isn’t it?
Until then, here are some choices to make your Gallery Night journey efficient. The cool breeze coming from Marquette’s Haggerty Gallery is from the chilly intellect of Robert Rauschenberg, or at least the punditry surrounding his work since his death last year. Initiated by Jed Perl’s look back at Rauschenberg’s career, critics have been buzzing to nail down the legacy of the master of the combine. Marquette contributes to the debate with a show of Rauschenberg’s print work from various points in his career. I think he’s one of the great masters of juxtaposition. What do you think?
Elsewhere, be sure to stop in at MIAD’s new show, “Personal Culture: New Art from Latin Americans,” which includes work by Ripon resident Rafael Francisco Salas and Milwaukee’s own Santiago Cucullu. And after tumbling through your favorite local galleries, why not wind things down within the warm white walls of the Milwaukee Art Museum, where the fete will last until midnight. While you’re there, be sure to see the (relatively) new show, “Catesby, Audubon, and the Discovery of a New World: Prints of the Flora and Fauna of America.” If you haven’t noticed, the MAM and other museums are look for younger audiences—how else to explain their pitch that the Audubon prints here are good inspiration for your latest tattoo. “Whoa, dude. I love the new Ruby-Throated Grackle on your bicep!”
After a night of frost-bitten fechting (as my Grandma Gladys used to call window shopping), spend Saturday night in defrost mode. No better soundtrack for that than the music of The Wailers, who will bring their “Exodus” tour to the Rave Saturday night. Their Summerfest show two years ago was one of the best concerts we’ve seen in a while, and here, Marley’s men will be performing the classic reggae album, “Exodus” in its entirety.
For a different kind of heat, head south to Alverno for music by the wild and wacky 17 Hippies, playing their brand of post-punk-polka-gypsy music. There are certainly a whole bunch of “hippies” there, each one a master of his or her own instrument. They spend most of the show bouncing around the stage and the auditorium, so don’t bother trying to count them.
Now that the holly-jollies are over, it’s time for theater to get down to some serious business, and the Milwaukee Rep rises to the occasion with Alice Childress’s Trouble in Mind. Unrelated to the Alan Rudolph film famous for its bad ‘80s hair, Childress instead has the ‘20s blues standard in mind, which would be an appropriate soundtrack for her tale of racial conflict in a theater rehearsal hall. A funny and fitting play for this particular Presidential inauguration, it’s a play that will certainly provoke some conversation.
Down the road, another new play by a local playwright hits the boards. Marie Kohler’s The Dig is a family story about a sister’s search into her older brother’s past, attempting to reconstruct the events at an archeology dig in 1967. UW-Madison’s Norma Saldivar directs.
And if you didn’t make the trek to Washington, but still want to mark the end of the Bush era (or the start of Obama-time), there are parties galore around the city. The folks at Diablos Rojos are getting together with Lakefront Brewery to offer a free pint to anyone who wears red, white and blue to the Inauguration events at Cafe Hollander, Café Centraal and Fat Abbey.
