In April 2004 OnMilwaukee.com's Molly Snyder Edler was the first to write about a new player in the Milwaukee art scene, the Green Gallery, 631 E. Center St., a seemingly undiscovered trove of fearless expression and fresh experimentation operated by local artists and brothers John and Joe Riepenhoff.
In the years since then, the small, independent Riverwest gallery has continued to garner praise and attention from not only the local media, but the New York Times, Artforum International, Time Out Chicago and specialty art publications in Los Angeles and Tokyo, as well.
While the original Green Gallery will continue to promote experimental programming at Center Street location -- Milwaukee filmmaker Mark Borchardt's photo exhibit, "Along the Way" is showing currently -- Riepenhoff is expanding his reach with the opening of the Green Gallery East, 1500 N. Farwell Ave.
Riepenhoff attributes the art world's high regards to Milwaukee's specific brand of creative mystique -- can intelligent art really come from the land of beer and brats? -- and to the city's unique, but alluring dynamic.
"If we were doing it in a bigger city, I don't know if it would have had the same impact," he says. "There is an interesting chemistry happening in Milwaukee. I don't think there is a system that is imposing a structured standard for artists in Milwaukee, so I think there is an ability to experiment more and follow that personal voice without being worried about what is cliché. That freedom can create a lot of really strange art."
And for the last four years, the Green Gallery is where this strangeness is cultivated and celebrated as progress. When asked to discuss his most successful shows, Riepenhoff points to non-traditional engagements, shows that expand upon the definition of the artist, shows that "push the standard of what our expectations of what a gallery show is."
The Faux show in May 2007, for example, invited locally trained faux finishers to create paintings right on the gallery's walls.
"Because they weren't working for a client, they were really able to experiment with colors that you'd never see in faux finishing before. They were able to push their own boundaries of their work."
A more formal counterpart to Green Gallery West, East's shows will feature practiced artists, both international and local, in hopes of gaining more national attention for the Milwaukee art scene.
"I'd like to bring artists in to Milwaukee that I really like that I don't see other institutions bringing in," Riepenhoff says. "My goal is to fill a gap in the community that I recognize as being valuable to me as an artist and a gallery owner and hope that I can help expose Milwaukee to these things."
Riepenhoff's reputation as an artist and gallery owner has grown exponentially -- he has pieces in permanent collections in Florida, Washington D.C., L.A., New York and in Milwaukee at the Sherman Perk Coffeeshop. Having worked in galleries and fairs in New York, L.A., Tokyo and London, he's returned to Milwaukee with a model for bridging Milwaukee's niche, alternative art worlds with its contemporary audiences.
"My art practice is very much informed by my curatorial practice; I've learned a lot from running my gallery. I learned a lot not only about art, but also how people perceive art, where funding for art comes from and what expectations for an art object are."
If all goes as planned, Green Gallery East will open in late January with a rare show of multi-media works from David Robbins, a Milwaukee artist who worked at Andy Warhol's Factory in the '70s and established himself in the New York art scene in the '80s.
"I feel really honored to be working with him because he hasn't done a gallery show for many years," Riepenhoff says.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
