After the election is over » Urban Milwaukee

It was an election that seemed never to end. Tensions have risen in our swing state, calling our relationships and alliances into question, turning even mundane moments in life into potential battlegrounds that don’t fully subside once the vote ends. We may be more careful in our words and actions and less inclined to step outside our comfort zone to avoid getting into a fight. This month, art exhibits in Milwaukee provide an opportunity to see ourselves and our history in a broader context, which could bring peace of mind to many who feel that a divided country is preventing deeper connections with each other. This is especially true Wisconsin Museum of ArtWhere Asher ImtiazPhotographs provide an opportunity to reflect on our shared humanity on a deeper level than political rhetoric can achieve.

Wisconsin Museum of Art

Asher Imtiaz: Mirrors, not windows

Until November 24

Wednesday – Sunday from 9:30 to 16:00.

205 Veterans Ave., West Bend

Asher Imtiaz immigrated to the United States in 2012 and has established himself as a photographer who captures the lives and struggles of other immigrants in this country. In these divisive times, when the specter of immigration is used to evoke violence, inequality and social ills, Imtiaz creates thoughtful portraits that ask the viewer to consider the difficult journey faced by asylum seekers, refugees and displaced persons on American soil. These are mainly portraits of individuals and families. It is difficult to understand what Imtiaz’s subjects are doing or thinking in his photographs. It’s easy to imagine the immigrant experience as being made up of many movements, painful and restless (unless you believe the claim that immigrants come to America to sit in the lap of luxury, in which case this exhibit might help you look a little deeper). As the title suggests, these portraits are mirrors reflecting back to the viewer facets of human experience that can be said to belong to the universal, rather than windows into other worlds that we do not claim to acknowledge.

Gallery Kim Warehouse

Maggie Robertson: Completely unexpected: Blue Horse paintings, 2019–2024.

Until November 16

Tuesday-Friday from 11:00 to 17:00, Saturday from 11:00 to 16:00.

st. 207 E. Buffalo, Suite 404

In his famous series of eleven lithographs, Picasso tried to convey the bull in all its basic forms and lines. He was able to develop a kind of cubist road map that abstracted and stylized the figure without sacrificing recognition, a technique that practicing artists still employ in their work today. This exercise came to mind while watching Maggie RobertsonBlue horse paintings show the animal in active gestures, using an ultramarine background and a single continuous outline to describe the horse. Although these paintings, prints and drawings are considered complete (that is, not sketches), there is an exploratory quality to their outlines that suggests exploration. But do we need more research? Animals have remained classic subjects throughout the history of art. When I was studying art history, we used to joke about “the man on the horse,” a shorthand phrase used to question the value of many works of art depicting colonizers, conquerors, and egoists. Paintings from Robertson’s series break (sorry) this tradition by gilding the outlines and leaving the body the color of the space within which the figure is located. They look like luminous silhouettes, fixed within the boundaries of the canvas, but kinetic. There is fury and euphoria in the horses’ poses, and even more so in the tempura paintings of disembodied hooves in motion. Without this context of the conquering racer, these paintings give our dear old friends an unearthly autonomy.

Haggerty Art Museum

Big 4-0: new looks at the collection

Until December 21

Monday – Saturday from 10:00 to 16:30.

1234 W. Tory Hill

Even the familiar can be made new again by highlighting new details, and anniversaries are a wonderful opportunity for reflection, a chance to trace history and determine a path forward consistent with the overarching mission. The Haggerty Art Museum functions as an educational museum for Marquette UniversityThis means that almost everything the museum owns benefits from bright minds revisiting and rediscovering works of art, and then making that information available to other scholars. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the museum^th In honor of the anniversary, many of the works on display are accompanied by texts describing updated knowledge gained from ongoing research and conservation efforts. The themed bag includes materials and movements, as well as photography, mail art, optical and kinetic art, political satire and more. Reconsider Mark Bradfordcrackling collages, Maria Magdalena Campos-Ponssurreal portraits, Keith Haringinstantly recognizable pop art, and Richard Serramoving explorations that formed the basis of his monolithic sculptures.

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Frederic Leighton Gallery

of our time

Until November 21

Monday – Saturday, from 10:00 to 17:00.

273 E. Erie St.

MIAD, ten years older than Haggerty, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an alumni community exhibition and tracing the creativity back to current students. Work from the archives sheds light on how this institution—the only one of its kind in Wisconsin—shaped and supported artistic innovation for half a century.

UWM Union Cinema

Experimental Tuesdays: Short Films by Ayanna Dozier

November 12, from 19:00 to 21:00.

UWM Union Cinema

2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.

Ayanna Dozier will take part in the screening of his short films, which have been shown in art galleries and film festivals around the world. The artist uses experimental film, photography, printmaking and research to explore transactional intimacy and private relationships in public and social policy. Dozier is known for using her material to reflect back to society’s broken understanding of sex, femininity, and the price one pays for bodily autonomy. This event is free and open to the public.

Take the chance to explore the prospects this month. Division is a lazy response to difference, but art pushes us to critique the systems that benefit from our division. History is a bridge that we all cross at the same time, connecting the past, present and future to our own perspectives.

Annie Raab has been writing about art since 2014 for print and online publications. You can find more of her critical and creative work at www.annieraab.com. She lives in Milwaukee.