Searching for Art in the Land of Curds and Beer.

With its honors as both “The Fattest City in America” and “The Drunkest City in America” Milwaukee is easily overlooked as yet another overweight, over-served Midwestern city, with little more on its mind than tonight’s beer special. However, if you ponder this for a little bit, it starts to make perfect sense … I mean, art shows are just a reason to eat cheese and get drunk, right?

All kidding aside, and in the wake of the recently shuttered Hotcakes Gallery, a small art scene is growing and operating outside the more traditional conventions of the city’s museums and Third Ward District galleries. Founded by Mike Brenner in 2004, Hotcakes opened in response to a lack of art that appealed to younger collectors and their wallets. Brenner closed Hotcakes in July 2008, after the City of Milwaukee decided their funds would be better spent on a bronze statue of Arthur Fonzarelli than on fostering the emerging arts community. Fear not, young art lovers, there’s more to Milwaukee than a metallic effigy of “The Fonz.” Here are a couple of cool places where you can see that for yourself:

The Green Gallery is an artist run space that shows work in a variety of media, from paintings and drawings to installation and video art to an exhibition featuring the work of Cook County Correctional Institute inmates. Another draw is a mini-gallery of sorts called the John Riepenhoff Experience. The John Riepenhoff Experience is a little white box atop a ladder, which gives new meaning to the idea of a “small works” show. Is it a peek into the artist’s brain, or a medieval-style art torture helmet? That may depend on your level of claustrophobia, but it’s definitely a good way to get up close and personal with the work. The gallery also has a monthly event called Movies & Masala, which is exactly what it sounds like: A film screening, where attendees can BYOFilm, and feast on freshly-made masala.

Paper Boat Boutique and Gallery refuses to be limited by the idea that an art space has to be four stark white walls. In fact, it actually has some color splashed in there. Paper Boat is a gallery/shop hybrid that offers one-of-a kind housewares, jewelry, and plush items, as well as artwork for your walls. Paper Boat hosts monthly openings and features the work of artists like Jill Bliss and Catherine Ryan. Like Mike Brenner at Hotcakes, the ladies behind Paper Boat strive to make the best in creative output available at a cost that even the most cash-strapped art student can handle. Their shop marks a trend in the arts that embraces and elevates media like plush or handcrafted items that were once thought of as more “low-brow.” Unwilling to be hemmed-in by traditional gallery rules, Paper Boat keeps us from taking art too seriously, and lets us have a little bit of fun with it.

IN:SITE Milwaukee goes one step further in breaking the rules by not really being a gallery at all. IN:SITE is a resource for artists who are interested in creating temporary public art in the Milwaukee area. The group acts as a resource for scouting public spaces, linking artists with those spaces, and funding various projects, as well as helping with insurance and maintenance of the work. Projects range from temporary murals to community and neighborhood related installations to storefront displays. One IN:SITE project, located in Sherman Perk Coffee Shop, is John Riepenhoff’s Vending Machine Project. Riepenhoff, artist and owner of Green Gallery, has stocked a retro vending machine with photographs by ten different artists of lesser-known Milwaukee locations, in hopes of raising local consciousness and, in my vending-machine-loving opinion, appealing to people’s lust for kitsch. Another project in Sherman Park, near the bus stop at Chambers and Sherman Blvd., is an interactive trashcan by MIAD student Cari Enot. The trashcan, called “Step it Up Milwaukee,” explores the concepts of waste, consumerism, and the environment. Interested parties can check out the IN:SITE website for the locations of ongoing and upcoming projects and installations, found all over the city of Milwaukee and beyond. Maybe they’ll even do a project involving the controversial Fonzie statue. Dare to dream.

While Milwaukee’s indie arts scene may not be as immense or have as many galleries as areas in larger cities, there’s a definite sense of community. Just as Hotcakes opened out of the need to fill a certain void, one can only imagine that other artist run, DIY spaces will open up in order to do the same. It may take a little bit of legwork to explore the contemporary art in “Brew City,” but it’s well worth the trip. Besides, you can always hit up the Brat Stop in Kenosha on the way home, to get your fix of beers, brats, and of course cheese curds.

SIDEBAR
The Green Gallery
631 E. Center St., 3B
414-640-2595
www.thegreengallery.tk

Paper Boat
Boutique & Gallery
2375 S. Howell Ave.
414-483-8462
www.paperboatboutique.com

IN:SITE
www.insitemilwaukee.org
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By Rachel M. Hewitt