The purr of a cello echoed around the historic Pritzlaff Building while people discussed the art around them on Friday evening. Providing the cello was Nineteen Thirteen, a local three-piece, progressive-rock band named for the 1913 Romanian cello played by Frontwoman Janet Schiff.
It was WMSE’s eighth annual Art & Music Auction, a yearly event held to support the radio station. Every year the WMSE gives out LP sized boards of wood to their community members to turn into works of art to be sold at auction. This year the station sold 176 pieces of art, and raised over $31,000 between the auction and ticket sales.
The auction means a great deal of things to a great deal of people. For the station, it’s a crucial fundraising event. For the buyers, it’s a chance to get interesting art while supporting their community. To Kyle Pieczynski, WMSE’s events coordinator, it’s a celebration of local art and artwork as well as a celebration of the independent spirit their WMSE art shares with them.
“Ultimately it’s a nice community event for both artists and people that appreciate art and our radio station,” Pieczynski said. “We’re just hopeful that it can continue to grow, it’s a great way to showcase our radio station and the community that’s around us.”
This is a selection of the pieces sold at the auction this year:
1913 – John Kowalczyk:
The first piece of art is not actually one of the auction pieces, but a live painting by local artist John Kowalczyk. Kowalczyk was painting feet away from the band that would inspire the name of the piece. Going in without clear vision for a final piece, Kowalczyk let the music inspire him. The flowing notes of Schiff’s cello drew him to a more fluid piece, making great use of long, flowing strokes.
Comfort Music – Jeff Sadowski – $145:
Comfort Music is a surrealist piece in line with much of Jeff Sadowski’s artwork. From the dismembered hand to the 91.7 logo cookie, to the Wisconsin branded glass of milk; the piece contains the same weirdness as WMSE, and Milwaukee as a whole.
Rise – Tarun Bali – $330:
Tarun Bali never expected to come to Milwaukee, but after a job brought him to the city, he fell in love.
“I made the bet that an iconic image that subtly screamed Milwaukee would connect with people,” Bali said. “It would allow people to be cathartic about the piece and reflect on their memories or association with the imagery.”
As such, he chose to depict the War Memorial, drawn to its clean, crisp lines. After 15 layers of charcoal, pastels, felt tip markers and a whole lot of tape; the stunning image had taken form. Bali likes to define a concept and then give up control, getting playful with the media. This avoids a predictable piece, and fills the art with the soul of the artist. Rise itself is nearly a surrealist piece, with the blue light rising over the seemingly floating building. It manages to both feel totally foreign, while being familiar and distinctively Milwaukee.
Amen Eternal – Martin Defatte – $210:
One of the most unique pieces was Amen Eternal by Martin Defatte. Over the pandemic, Defatte began experimenting with circuit bending cassette players and looping cassette tapes. The culmination of these experiments was Amen Eternal.
The piece is visually simple; just the board, electronics, and the word “AMEN” spray painted along the bottom. The artistry comes in the electrical components, a looping tape deck connected to a small speaker. The tape deck is playing the “Amen Break” a drum fill on The Winstons’ 1969 track “Amen, Brother.”
The sample has gone on to become one of the most sampled pieces of music in history, becoming a core component in Hip-Hop, House, Drum & Bass and even the basis for new genres like Breakcore. In this piece, Defatte takes this piece of music history and stretches it out eternally in reverence.
Follow the Leader – Dara Larson – $336:
Dara Larson’s Follow the Leader was one of the more sought-after pieces this year, going for $336 after 26 bids. The evocative piece shows multiple figures circles a tree in boats accompanied by various fish.
Life is breathed throughout the piece, from the central three drawing off imagery of a “Tree of Life”, to a figure actively fishing; a core source of sustenance for early man. The piece seems to be showing the birth of a people, or perhaps more accurately a rebirth, as the people are flocking to the tree instead of coming from it.
Queen of the Bees/Johnny Guitar – Eric Von Munz – $710 each:
Two of the most acclaimed pieces at the auction were by station DJ Eric Von Munz. Queen of the Bees and Jonny Guitar are mirrored screen printings of a skeleton on the telephone. What makes these pieces special, outside of the crisp linework and vibrant colors, is that they are sections of the poster for Jack White’s recent cactus club shows.
White played a last-minute show while stopping in Milwaukee after being asked to by WMSE, and Von Munz made the posters for it. The central section of the posters was the perfect size to fit on the provided art boards while cropping out the text. The pieces serve both as striking pieces of poster art, as well as a piece of Milwaukee music history.
All Dressed Up For Picture Day – Beth Bojarski – $2,010:
Beth Bojarski is a world-renowned artist, and as such it may be expected that her piece would go for the most at auction. All Dressed Up For Picture Day sold for $2,010, the only piece to go for over a thousand dollars. While the piece itself is quite simple, the detailed painting and delightful absurdism cement the piece as one of the auction’s best.
Scrapcity – Jourdain LaFrambois – $150:
While most of the pieces submitted to the auction were confined to the board, a few broke out into 3D space. Scrapcity by Jourdain LaFrambois is a layered piece of woodworking that shows a city at night made of scrap wood. The nondescript city is composed of dark woods, which along with the small moon, show the late-night setting.
Ope, That’s My Boat – Teresa Sahar – $320:
Last October, a yacht was beached on Milwaukee’s shoreline south of Bradford Beach, inspiring artists across the city. Many flocked to it with their spray cans to tag it, one most prominently painting “ALIENS” on the side.
Sahar was another artist inspired by the boat, choosing acrylic over spray paint. Like many, Sahar felt the boat was “Quintessentially Milwaukee,” representing the ridiculousness of the city. Still, one can find deeper meaning in the pieces, with the “ALIENS” tag being very provocative.
Sahar says that the yacht, a sign of wealth, could represent wealthy conservatives who are overly concerned with immigration while neglecting more pressing issues. The piece is appealing on many levels, and was the favorite piece of WMSE DJ Alien Andre.
Mask #7 – Matthew Gramling – $175:
Matthew Gramling has been making these “masks” for the past three years out of wood he harvests and mills himself. Mask #7 is made from walnut wood, using a technique called book-matching to mirror the grain on either side of the face.
The mask is meant to mimic the trophy head of a rare animal. The reverence crafted into the pieces forges a connection with the viewer, like Pieczynski who listed it as his favorite piece.
Street Music New Orleans – Corey Hengen – $110:
In the early 2000s, Corey Hengen traveled extensively to record street performers and buskers. He used the project to return to shooting photography on film and shot the entire series on medium-format film cameras. Street Music New Orleans is one of these photos, showing a New Orleans trumpeter playing by streetlight.
A Complete…Known – Jon Grider – $160:
A Complete…Known by Jon Grider is a reference to a lyric in Bob Dylan’s song Like a Rolling Stone, and the recent biopic film that also took the lyric. As such, the painting depicts a detailed close-up of a contemporary Dylan. The painting exists in a long line of Dylan paintings at the event and was one of a few at this year’s auction. Despite that, the piece is more than able to set itself apart through its unique pallet and point in Dylan’s life.
New York City Staircase – Guntis Lauzums – $160:
Guntis Lauzums’ photo of a New York City Staircase almost looks painted with its saturated reds and sharp shadows. The image of a fire escape backdropped by white graffiti on the crimson wall is deceptively simple. The harsh shadows and warm tones invoke the late afternoon, while the AC unit and the graffiti tags show a lived-in world.
The photo pulls one into the city, as WMSE’s Music Director Sid McCain can attest. She listed it as one of her favorites, citing her love of New York City.
Roosted – Eric Michael Hancock – $310:
Eric Michael Hancock’s piece is an eye catching one, with stark colors and an almost absurdist subject matter. Upon closer inspection, you can see clues to the paintings underlying themes; the roster’s pierced beak, the worm’s spiked collar. The piece is about rock and roll.
“My biggest focus was on how obnoxious rock and roll roosters tend to be,” Hancock said. “Scaling it up, making it invasive, and driving the dynamics of sound, without sound”
Miles – Ignacio Catral – $220:
Ignacio Catral’s Miles, named for the legendary jazz artist it depicts, is a detailed acrylic painting of the titular musician playing trumpet. While the painting appears to be set in a club of sorts, the light shining behind Davis’s head gives off a distinctly biblical energy. The piece’s monochrome tone goes almost completely unnoticed, only containing shades of black and white, while giving the impression of color.