Milwaukee Pride + Cross Culturalization w/ John Riepenhoff
Artist, gallerist, and curator John Riepenhoff has built an art world enterprise over the last two decades and change. Throughout his career, he has been representing Milwaukee on a global stage-- a responsibility that he takes deep pride in. Fueled by a belief in how special Milwaukee culture is, Riepenhoff has represented Milwaukee through professional art opportunities in Tokyo, London, Basel and beyond. As a young artist, he was originally inspired to open a gallery in order to platform the talent of his community and create more opportunities for local artists. His practices grew from problem solving, saying yes to opportunities, and in the process, he’s increased access to art for the public and built spaces for artists to intentionally connect and exchange ideas, often across cultures and nationalities.
In the conversation, Riepenhoff discusses the unique qualities of the Milwaukee art scene that he has helped to build and shape. Despite Milwaukee artists enjoying the freedom of creating in a place that’s not driven by the same art market as places like New York, Milwaukee artists are still driven by a desire to be in conversation with international cities.
“In a void of asks of artists, there can be a really creative output that’s not fulfilling the needs of client, market or grants. There’s value in artists not solving problems but discovering or making problems,” said Riepenhoff.
Riepenhoff discusses his recent curatorial work through Sculpture Milwaukee, now in its seventh year, which highlighted for him just how much the Milwaukee community seems to value the presence of public art. The exhibition entitled “Actual Fractals: Act I” is a reflection of the diverse voices of the artists, and, at the same time, a nod to patterning, and ways of thinking of universal subjects at different scales.
Other sources of inspiration for Riepenhoff include the culinary arts, the natural world, sensory stimulation, and “ephemeral experiences that bring us together.” Through his work, he’s been a steady advocate and architect of a diverse range of artistic projects, and in the process has elevated many Milwaukeeans, as well as Milwaukee’s reputation worldwide as a special cultural hub.
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Full Interview Transcript (Click to Expand):
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Welcome to Creative MKE A conversation show from Imagine MKE, where we talk to creative leaders in Milwaukee to highlight all the incredible transformative power of their work in our region. We hope that after listening, you'll be able to imagine our city's arts and culture ecosystem, and all the awesome artists, organizations, and creative assets within it in a new way. I'm your host, Elisabeth Gasparka.
Hey there. Welcome to Creative MKE today, along with my colleague Michael Lagerman, I speak with John Riepenhoff, internationally renowned artist, curator, and gallerist living in Milwaukee. For two decades, John has been programming art exhibitions, happenings in projects through the Green Gallery. Most recently, he curated actual fractals Act one sculpture, Milwaukee's latest exhibition, which is currently on view in downtown Milwaukee. In our conversation, we discuss the special art and culture in Milwaukee and hear reflections from John's experiences curating the most recent exhibition for sculpture Milwaukee, as well as generally serving as an arts ambassador of sorts through his work at the Green Gallery, where he introduces global audiences to artists from this community and brings artists from around the globe to show their work here and immerse themselves in Milwaukee culture. We speak about how his work and service within the arts arose and of his influences, including his love of the culinary arts.
We also hear from Riepenhoff about the need he sees for increased support of the arts sector in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, how the arts are essential, and how investment and culture can increase quality of life. Creative MKE is supported through a partnership with Shepherd Express. For more than 40 years, shepherd Express has proudly advocated for arts and culture in the Milwaukee area. You can hear more podcasts like this at shepherdexpress.com. Today's feature music is by Joe Riepenhoff. John Riepenhoff is co-owner of the Green Gallery. Milwaukee runs the open fund and the Beer Endowment, co-organized Milwaukee International and Dark Faires, and is an inventor of artistic platforms for the expression of others, as well as a regular food ideator. His exhibitions and curatorial projects have been presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, LA Maison Tovu in Brussels. Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas, 356 Mission Road in Los Angeles. Poor Farm in Wisconsin. Lyndon Sculpture Garden in Milwaukee, as well as many more arts institutions around the nation and the world. Riepenhoff has a BFA from the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. After the break, stick around for our conversation with John Riepenhoff.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Welcome, John.
John Riepenhoff:
Hi, thanks for having me.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Nice to have you here. To kick us off today in this conversation, could you start by telling us about an art experience that left a strong imprint on you?
John Riepenhoff:
Yeah. The first thing that comes to mind is I've recently was traveling to Basel, Switzerland, and then Riga Lavia, then back home to Milwaukee. And I was traveling for art and I was kind of visiting international art fairs and also artists run scene and in Latvia and coming home in the company of friends who run galleries and our artists in Tokyo, New York, and Paris. I was really impressed as we were going into install week of sculpture Milwaukee, at not only the quality of international contemporary art that we were installing in Milwaukee, but also kind of the logistical smoothness that everything was going up. And I guess in the context of being on these international art scene and then kind of being home again in the presence of, of some also international players in that scene, it was kind of really impressive and proud of this scale and of this public exhibition that we're putting on. And also just the quality of the content too. So it's kind of a new thing from the last week, I guess, <laugh>. But there's just so many great art experiences in Milwaukee at so many different levels from artist run spaces to the institutions that we have that I'm kind of constantly reminded of how special our culture is here.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Wonderful.
Michael Lagerman:
Yeah, that's great. When you're porting Milwaukee internationally, how do you introduce Milwaukee's art and culture scene to these other cities and people and galleries?
John Riepenhoff:
Well, there's a few layers of that. I mean, at the conversational layer, people typically come up and just are kind of see Milwaukee as some people don't know where we are and other people. I find it as kind of a, an exotic name or word <laugh>. And usually we're kind of a, a token kind of representative of the culture in, in places like Miami or New York or, or London or beyond. So from the first picture there, there, or from the first introduction, it's, it's quite novel. But when I'm thinking about programming for art fairs and thinking about what to broadcast of the culture from here, I'm in a really unique opportunity. And one of the resources that I have is like a gallerist curator artist in Milwaukee that a lot of my peers in the major art centers elsewhere don't have, is proximity to the artists of this region.
So every day I get exposure to talent and artists and I find that to be a certain responsibility too. So I do show re artists from this region in the context of national and international artists. But I also find it like a quite a thoughtful kind of project to try to carefully select artists that will, one, be valued in an international context but also maybe just surprise and just show people exactly some of the values that are here. We're, we've got a lot of stereotypes of this region, and I think oftentimes there can be a pretty heavy Midwestern modesty that can almost be to the point of being self-deprecating mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And I think just going forward with confidence and pride in some of the culture that we have here. And really the artists and the scene here make that actually quite easy 'cause I find so much inspiration from just the culture in this region.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So in preparation for this conversation, you reintroduced me to the essay written by curator Nicholas Frank, from the Milwaukees exhibition that was organized in 2013 and held at U W G B. In his essay, Nicholas put forth a lot of really wonderful descriptions of some of the art activities that had happened in the nineties up to 2013. And he also proposed that while Milwaukee artists enjoy this freedom and playfulness that comes from creating in, you know, relative obscurity being located here in the Midwest in a somewhat small city, that they are truly driven by a desire to be in conversation with international cities. So in your work, both as a gallerist and as an artist, you have been such an arbiter of this cross culturalization between our city's culture and other communities. So I just want you to speak to that a little bit more. What does that mean to you that you are able to be this kind of cultural and artistic ambassador for Milwaukee? And where did that impulse come from Initially?
John Riepenhoff:
Yeah. Really over 20 years ago when I started organizing shows and then kind of formalized that through the Green Gallery and the Milwaukee International, these other projects that were really intentionally built to designed to build community and to kind of bring some of the uncertainty of those conversations together, these social spaces. The early, the early kind of motivation was just looking around me and looking at the institutions and the artists opportunities for artists as kind of a young art student and kind of not seeing everything that I are not seeing opportunities for the artists that I kind of valued. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So the beginning of the Green Gallery was just, it was just basically showing artists that I saw value in their work that weren't getting opportunities elsewhere mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. And I first was serving my community and River West and the U w m, you know art scene.
But that very quickly within a year grew to regional to national, and then to inter international. So Green Gallery started in 2004. By 2006, I was co-organizing the Milwaukee International Art Fair again in River West. But my community just grew naturally through just having conversations with artists. And it wasn't really like something that I necessarily had some grand design over. It was more so just kind of problem solving, filling the need of that I, that I was observing in my community. So I absolutely agree with Nicholas's statement that like, you know, there's in this kind of in sometimes void of asks of artists <laugh> in Milwaukee that there can be a really creative output. Mm-Hmm. That's not really fulfilling the needs of a client or a market or even some sort of, you know, like grants. But actually there's like actually a value in artists having that time and space to really kind of like, basically not solve problems, but discover problems Hmm.
And make problems <laugh>. So yeah, it's, I guess it's been, for me that early impact of kind of just building a venue and building opportunity for conversation artists to meet each other, artists to meet the public, the public, to kind of understand and get access to art. Those are kind of qualities that I still value today, even though I'm running commercial institution and curating at a, at a very large public scale mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and also operating personally as an artist you know, doing international shows. It's something that I value in all scales of art making and art presenting.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Can we hone in a little bit on your career as an artist and as a gallerist and a curator? Can you speak to, you know, as you kind of went down this pathway of organizing exhibitions in the early days with your brother Joe, was there like a framework that you were working with? Like did you, did you set specific goals for yourself in your career, or did it unfold organically?
John Riepenhoff:
Yeah, I have to say, like, growing up in Wauwatosa and in Milwaukee my whole life, I didn't really realize that there weren't models of artists that were kind of contributing to society. And I knew that I wanted to be a civil servant in some way, but I didn't really know that in the arts there were opportunities for that. So I, I was always kind of encouraged to go into the arts, but it was, there was never like a really a concrete role or position or a goal for that. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, it was just basically following interests and certain kind of passion. I guess. When I started the Green Gallery in 2004, you know, it was, it was more following the model of a, of a d i y music venue, a house venue. Mm-Hmm. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> it took almost five years for me to actually formalize the gallery as a business.
And a lot of the development over the course of the last 20 years, ha has been basically solving problems that are in front of me, growing out of necessity, not out of some ambition to do something <laugh> mm-hmm. <Affirmative> at 10, 20, 30 years down the road. Sure. Looking back, I'm kind of shocked at like that I've been in it so long, but I've kept present in my role and I've said yes to opportunities even sometimes when they were a little bit beyond my <laugh> knowledge set. And through that process, I've really learned a lot. And I've actually had the privilege to see the contemporary art scene in Milwaukee really grow and mature, not only with critical mass of artists who end up staying here, but also a new generation of patronage and also just kind of public, I think art awareness of the values of something that we have here, which is a really high number of conceptual artists, I think per capita, it's something that's really special that you don't really see other places that it's kind of emerged out of the social structure of our, of our art scene.
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> artists peer to peer group, and less so from some trickle down or some ask by by structures above. So I feel yeah, really privileged to be part of this kind of this this generation and this movement.
Michael Lagerman:
You just mentioned civil service and the Publix that of engage with art, and I'm curious about actual fractals Act one, the exhibition you curated for sculpture Milwaukee. How did you approach the curatorial process for this pretty impressive exhibition?
John Riepenhoff:
Thanks. I used a lot of my network. I kind of leveraged not my network as an artist, as a gallerist, and also just kind of being on the international and local scene for so long to try to bring in artists that I thought kind of represented or kind of invited us into very specific personal and world views. So I was interested in bringing in a really diverse group of artists from different backgrounds, from different age groups, different time periods, different cultures. And I also wanted the work to be accessible from a lot of different scales. One is street level. I think there's a really great curiosity if someone's just who has no art background approaches a monumental sculpture on the street, and there can be something absurd, something kind of intrigue to your day a little bit different than what you're used to seeing.
And I wanted the work to be inviting at a very pedestrian level. I also was in thinking about this other community in Milwaukee, the artists and the curators who might also kind of be able to be invited to see the work and read the work at a different level. Maybe some of the material or the narrative or some of the concepts that the artists are bringing in. And then there's also a group of people that I think will probably see the work only virtually and I, and there's an international audience who might be paying attention to these ational careers of the artists, to thinking about also how different conversations are happening at other triennials and biennials and sculpture public exhibitions from an international standpoint. So I was really thinking about multiple audiences and how can I engage in different conversations with, without really compromising quality or value of, of that conversation.
And that really came through the voices of the artists and these kind of different materials and ways of exploring perspective that the, I think that the different artists in this group have showcased. I also think actual fractals is kind of a nod to thinking about how there's a lot of different patterns and ways of thinking that we can kind of zoom into and zoom out of, and we can kind of get different qualities from thinking about things at different scales. Hmm. And I also was interested in thinking about how different and diverse people can be today, and how we can all kind of share a time and a place. Mm-Hmm. And we can be present with each other, you know, while being tolerant and accepting of each other's differences in diversity.
Michael Lagerman:
Hmm. Did this process provide any freedom for you that you haven't experienced with curating the gallery?
John Riepenhoff:
The team at Sculpture Milwaukee is phenomenal. There's staff there who've been there from the very first iteration seven years ago, and their knowledge of the locations of the logistics and of just kind of the scope of production were incredibly supportive in the process of curating this exhibition. So, yeah, there's a bigger staff there than, than I have in my studio, <laugh> and at the gallery setting. But honestly, for me, the most ex one, some of the most exciting things were one, obviously helping to realize in public the voice of the artists, but also seeing the, how art is valued by the downtown community in Milwaukee, by property owners, by just general public walking by. It was just, I often host exhibitions and in indoors and in you know, these different storefronts and private spaces. So that was like really refreshing to see how much business owners and patrons and the public really value art. And to see that kind of the te testimony of that in front of the sculptures on the street was really incredible.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Going back to what you were just sharing about creating spaces within the art world for diverse audiences to be present together with each other in community, I wanna talk about an element of Green Gallery West's kind of social practice that's, that's been really enjoyed by the art community in Milwaukee. So you often build culinary experiences into your openings at Green Gallery West, for example. There's a Woodfire pizza oven that you constructed in the garden space next to the gallery. So what role does this kind of hospitality play in the culture of the art world? Is it something that's unique to Milwaukee?
John Riepenhoff:
Well, I think some of these ephemeral experiences that bring us together are one, what some of the things I value the most about even looking at a painting, it reminds me of these passing moments of thoughts and sensorial experiences that we have. And for me I think visual art is one part of a big picture, but it's also a reminder of these other relationships and experiences that we can have. I also obviously value in food and drink and socialization this type of other type of communication and information that we have. I think there's parts of the art world that go really heavy in language. Hmm. And I value the written word, but I also really value these other ways of communicating through hosting, through body language, through food ways, and fermentation. Hmm. Ways that are kind of like maybe pre-industrial value structures that not only connect us with each other in the community and learning about different ways that we relate to the natural world around us but also different cultures and the history of relating to the, to our natural environment, but also kind of facilitate ways of hosting and, and, and connecting with, with people.
A lot of the artists in actual fractals, act one I've, I connected with Over Food. Paul, her who's Hmong American. We talk half the time when we're talking, we talk about art and visual arts, and the other time we talk about farming and cooking and what restaurants to check out. Hmm. And Erica Verdi who's based in, or she's Brazilian, also has a studio in Brussels. Her sculpture is actually a bronze cast description of different, of like three different types of fruit and vegetables that are stacked on top of each other. So I just I guess I love food. I'm passionate about food, and I see it as a really kind of important way of connecting with people. And I really love some of the environment that it can create mm-hmm. <Affirmative> to help us understand and value some of the information that's in visual art as well.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Thank you. Can you reflect on any models that you encountered earlier in your life and career that might've influenced this, this taste for social practice and engaging with multisensory experiences in the art realm?
John Riepenhoff:
The very first green Gallery opening, I brewed Green Gallery, I p a <laugh>, and I saw beer as like a very important part of an art opening when I went to other art events at the artist Run Performance Art Space Darling Hall or other art venues in Milwaukee. You know, you kind of get a beer, kind of quell some of your anxiety about standing around and not really knowing what to think of the art on the walls. And it maybe sets a certain duration of that you're gonna be there to finish the beer. And you don't have to have an excuse like, you know, what you're doing there. <Laugh> <laugh>. So I think I, I brewed beer early on, and that ended up being the foundation for the Beer Endowment, which later in 2015 when I was named the Milwaukee Art Sport Artist of the Year, and the mayor gave me a check and I said, this is gonna be for Beer Money <laugh>.
It went to the seed money for the beer endowment, which creates recipes based on artists run organizations. The beer itself will promote that these artists run organizations exist, and then all the proceeds after production costs go to help benefit the artists run organizations. So I guess that's like one maybe application that I've used in a different dimension. But I also, obviously, I think just growing up and my parents making food, my dad was outdoor editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and he would bring home a wild game, which you kind of have to be passionate about culture and food to kind of process and, and make delicious. So I think probably just growing up and having parents who were interested in food kind of helped me value and understand the, the importance of that.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Awesome.
Michael Lagerman:
On the note of emerging artists in Milwaukee, do you have any advice for them how to make their practices and career sustainable here? Any words to make them stay?
John Riepenhoff:
Yeah. For any artist that's interested in just getting involved in getting support in art, I, I would say go out, say yes to things. Go see everything you can. Only through experiencing a huge range of what other artists and institutions are doing, are we able to really find our community. And if you don't find the community that you value, build it. <Laugh>. I think that it's so important to just go out and experience things and, and be as active as you can. I think it's also important not to be ambitious to the point where you're serving someone else's interests and needs. Mm-Hmm. I think you need, we should be always following our passion. We should always be engaged. I think we have to work hard, and we can, there's really a unique environment in Milwaukee where the cost of living is a lot cheaper than other big cities.
Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And with that extra space we can build and influence things in a pretty short period of time. I mean, I guess 20 years for me wasn't terribly short period of time, but in the scheme of things can make a bigger change in a city like Milwaukee than we can in much bigger cities that have much bigger art machines in, in the works. So I would say, yeah, follow your passion and see as much as you can, and just be active. You, you'll never, you never know. I mean, I, I, like I said, I didn't expect to be running the gallery mm-hmm. <Affirmative> a couple decades in, and if you just keep at it, there's times where I kind of questioned why am I doing this? But duration can really help build a kind of a strong presence in an identity. So, yeah.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Awesome. On the note of transitioning the identity of Milwaukee to an arts city, a place that's known internationally as an arts city, I just wanna take a step back here. Right now, Wisconsin generates $9.7 billion in revenue from the arts sector, right? So from employment, from tourism and hospitality connected to arts productions and events. But Wisconsin currently ranks dead last per capita for investment in the arts. Milwaukee County also reinvests just 0.3% into the arts and culture space. So I wanna invite you to be a little creative here and imagine a future for us. If you would paint a picture of Milwaukee where there is more funding for our arts and culture. Let's say, for example, part of the new sales tax revenue was earmarked for supporting arts organizations and individual artists. What might that mean for our community?
John Riepenhoff:
Well, I think it's been kind of remarkable. The number of art support private or nonprofit art support groups that have come up, not state or city funded, but through the Noll Fellowship, through the generator and no studios grant through the Open Fund. And every time these joy Engine, sorry. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, there's many more out there, but this to name a few. Every time one of these opens, what I realize is not okay, we've got more support for the arts. It makes me realize there's so much need, there's so much more need. Every time artists apply for these grants, there's artists that don't get the grant. And I just think that there's so much need to support artists and to empower them to not solve problems, but to like actually do projects that they're interested in doing that kind of help make our city a more interesting place.
Hmm. I think if there was a product of the arts, it's civilization, <laugh> <laugh>. And I think the more our state and our county and our city government can support artists, it's just gonna be a better look. And it'll can really, it'll help us stand out and, and be forward thinking about our own culture and the future. I am an artist, but for me, an artist empowered future means good wages for arts employees. It means a healthier city. It means more intrigue and more curiosity, more open-mindedness, more diversity, better food, <laugh>, <laugh> better music and more pleasure in life. We can try to keep people a alive and support them through a lot of like infrastructure, but if it's without the arts, people might not have that reason to, to, to really get up every morning and mm-hmm. <Affirmative> experience life. So I just think that there's a growing support and a growing knowledge for arts funding, and I think that's great. But I think it's just the beginning because I think there's so much more work that needs to be done to help bring this value and support into our into our culture here.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So you touched on the Open Fund, which is a new grant for artists that you founded. Can you speak to the formation of it and who it's for?
John Riepenhoff:
Yeah. The Open Fund is one of the Andy Warhol foundation for the arts re-granting funds. So they have 32 of partners around the United States. And the Open Fund is actually run through the Poor farm, which is an artist run Salala in central Wisconsin, run by Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam. They're the fiscal receiver for the Open fund. And I administer the fund and it's customized for our region, but it's based on a model that the Andy Wlf Foundation for the Arts has established. So there's partner programs in cities all across America. And this year, actually, we've got additional support from the Ruth Foundation for artists. Mm-Hmm. So the fund supports visual art projects that are public facing and collaborative in operations, <laugh> mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. So it's for projects that are run by artists, initi initiated by artists, and it could be anything from experimental cinema to a gallery that's not commercial or nonprofit.
It's a lot of these projects that kind of don't fit into other aspects of funding. They're not necessarily selling art, so they can't pay rent. They're not seeking out grants from nonprofit organizations. And part of the idea is to support these artists at the very beginning of their institutions. We have these older artist institutions that have been around for decades that are kind of mammoths in the art and our art field that actually do get support. But to think about an artist run world, we have to think about seeding these projects in their, their early stages. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So the, the 2023 fund should be opening soon, hopefully late, late summer, early fall. And our goal will ultimately be to expand the fund and hopefully provide opportunities for public facing collaborative art projects statewide. One of the things that I've kind of experienced living in the Midwest is that there's not less talent or less artists doing interesting things than in the big cities there, but there are oftentimes less tools for them to realize their projects.
Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. So the Open Fund is, in one way, it's addressing that, and it's trying to support artists and give them tools to be, have louder voices and have bigger impact on their communities. But it also is a way to support a certain type of production. So I think that we often think of artists as, you know, somebody hermetically working in their studio, toiling away in isolation, and those are really, you know, obviously have, there's been great cultural contribution from that type of studio practice. But this grant supports artists who are doing things publicly who are creating social spaces, who are providing opportunities for artists to, or for the public to have touchpoints with artists. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And oftentimes it's artists who are complicating the idea of authorship, where they're not saying, oh, I wanna make a mural of my own work and put it on the wall.
They're saying, I'd like to create a platform for artists to come in and have a voice and create. And sometimes those are artists from our region, and sometimes it means, Hey, I want my friend to fly in from, you know, Tokyo or something, and do a project and interface and have that kind of cultural exchange mm-hmm. <Affirmative> with the artists from here. I think oftentimes it's hard for us to get on a plane and go elsewhere, but if you bring somebody here from a far and plug them into an artist project that an artist envisioned, you can have, a lot of people can kind of have access to that kind of different culture. And, and I think in those spaces, we can also see ourselves differently. Hmm. You know, we see ourselves in the eyes of somebody else who's coming into town too, so. Hmm.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So you're fostering that next generation of cross culturalization hoping
John Riepenhoff:
In our world. I'm hoping. Yeah. We're hoping that that's, yeah. That, that through cultural exchange, through giving people a confidence and reward for contributing to like a public conversation. And there's already a, a, a really great round of, of grants that we gave out, 12 grants and all those show really great models of what the Open Fund is looking for, for types of projects to support. And it's very diverse,
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Exciting. When will the next cycle take place?
John Riepenhoff:
It's, we, we don't have an a release date, <laugh> the next cycle. We'll, hope, we're hoping to launch the application in late summer or fall of this year. And the goal is that it will continue to be an annual grant. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Excellent.
Michael Lagerman:
Are there any local figures or institutions that have helped you on your path? Anyone that sticks out from memory early on mid-career,
John Riepenhoff:
You know, receiving the Mary Noll Fellowship for individual artists that in some ways helped me identify publicly as an artist. Before that, I was making art, I was doing some shows here and there. But th that grant helped me see myself kind of publicly as an artist mm-hmm. <Affirmative> in some ways. And honestly, e every, from the early days of Green Gallery, where we, I was not, there was no sales happening. It was just literally people showing up, talking about art. There were so many artists that just came and were part of that conversation, and that was like really supportive. Mm-Hmm. And there was all kinds of models of Nicholas Frank was a great mentor and collaborator for years. There's so many, there's countless artists, too many to name here, <laugh>. I also think every time I put on a show, I'm so inspired by the artist's work that they put into it.
There's not a guarantee that artists will get a financial payback for mm-hmm. <Affirmative> being, for putting on an exhibition. And it's, so I, I feel so lucky to have kind of been welcomed into the minds and the artwork worlds of so many artists at the Green Gallery. So I also think it's so important to have durational institutions in our region. So the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Linden Sculpture Garden, the Kohler Art Center the Haggerty, having an institution stay open for a duration a long period of time, I greatly miss Innova. That was a really significant venue in my development as an artist. And I think having these spaces, whether we like the programming or define ourselves in opposition to the programming <laugh>, I think that's really important for intergenerational knowledge and identity of a place. So I'm, I'm grateful for all these institutions, for all of 'em, for surviving <laugh>.
Michael Lagerman:
Yeah. That it makes a lot of sense that all of these places coexist and help shape the cultural and cultural identity and also the artistic production, like you said, either in sort of contrast or mm-hmm. <Affirmative> in like falling in line with, and taking inspiration,
John Riepenhoff:
I should say too, that company brewing and Clock, shadow Creamery mm-hmm. <Affirmative> played a really important role for me in my development as I guess as a gallerist in Milwaukee, where there weren't really other galleries that were at my own stage, my, the same stage of development that I was when I met these other business owners, these creative business owners in Milwaukee. So I collaborated with company Brewing to run the beer endowment and to kind of see my, see peers in these other industries. But to realize that, you know, we really had a lot in common to think that we were kind of cultural purveyors. And the same with clock shadow. I was just really impressed that I could walk in there and throw an idea out there and them welcoming that. And my dream is that we have more cross-cultural collaborations in the future, and that people feel comfortable kind of jumping mediums mm-hmm.
Mm-Hmm. And and influencing each other. And for me, I think one of the defining features of this time in Milwaukee for culture and the arts is collaboration. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. I think when I was a art student at U W M, I kind of didn't see that. I didn't see an institutional level, these institutions collaborating. And now one of the real important things for me for sculpture Milwaukee, was to point to programming that has been done at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Mm-Hmm. At the Kohler Arts Center, at the Linden Sculpture Garden and other places and say, Hey, we're sharing ideas and artists that either have shown or will show at these other spaces. And my goal is to create a connective tissue and through other art institutions, but also businesses and artists, and to feel like we're not in competition with each other. We can collaborate and we can maintain our individual identities mm-hmm. But we can kind of raise the cultural identity of our region up as something that we can all benefit from and rise together with.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Beautiful.
Michael Lagerman:
Yeah. And you've collaborated, you've made these business collaborations artistic, and you've also curating it's collaborative, but you've also, in your own body of work, made these collaborative pieces like the almost art handler pieces. So you've been making work that is conceptually about collaboration as well. So I'm also just curious how you think about your work and if you have any favorite pieces or body of work that sticks out to you.
John Riepenhoff:
Yeah. Well, I appreciate that observation to see that like the easel, art handler pieces kind of talk about authorship and in a maybe more nuanced way than a lot of the wall labels on <laugh> at, at museums. But I have to say, I think and, and to see that, that the scale of things can be, you know John re Panoff experience, just a small box in the wall that acts as a gallery, but then to think about a citywide exhibition as not only a tool to put on an exhibition, but a tool to kind of build community as well. I think for me, my favorite pieces are always the newest beer in down beer <laugh>. And right now we did a beer with a brewery called Ilial in Brussels this spring for La Meison De Rendezvous, a gallery that I did a painting exhibition there for as well as lost 40 Brewing, which is the largest brewery in Arkansas.
We brewed a beer called good Weather Cold, i p a for a artist run gallery that exists both in Little Rock as well as Pilsen Chicago. But I'm also been really getting a lot of pleasure out of painting recently. So I've got like over 15 year career of painting the night sky at Night <laugh>. And in the last year, I've typically I had been painting the Night sky in remote locations around the world. And in the last year or so, I've been painting All Milwaukee Night Skies <laugh>, and I've been doing multiple nights in the same canvas. And I've also been making these decoy owls that are kind of my company as I look at the painting <laugh>. So those have been giving me great pleasure along with a cold good weather.
Michael Lagerman:
A <laugh>, the good weather is really good. It's delicious, <laugh>. Thanks.
John Riepenhoff:
Glad you agree.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So, kind of diving in a little further to your own creative practice, you know, you've talked about this sensory exploration of culinary, the culinary arts, but what kind of, I guess, ancillary creative practices sharpen your, your painting life other than the cold beer? What other forms of creativity might you employ to sort of get yourself in the right mindset?
John Riepenhoff:
In the last several years, I've been getting a lot of inspiration and pleasure from non-human animal relationships, <laugh>. So my partner has been studying dog training and dog cognition, and learning about seeing the world through other creatures, ears, eyes, and nose has helped me think a little bit differently about my own vantage. Hmm. And I think it's built depth to my perspective on looking at the stars and looking at at the world around me. Another thing that really I think has improved my painting game is cooking every single meal during during Covid <laugh>. Mm. I, I love cooking, I love eating, and so I am driven to <laugh> learn a bigger expand my palate of, of cooking. Mm-Hmm. And so yeah, like some of the experimentation, some of the sensorial moves that you can make in cooking and fermenting, and those have really in influenced how I, not only but the actions of my painting, but also kind of how I think about things structurally, informally.
So yeah, dog walks. And then the other thing is sauna too. So last year I collaborated with artist friends at current projects to build a sauna and thinking about the role of a gallery as a hearth or as a meeting point. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, you were mentioning the oven as an extension of that. And the sauna becomes this other space where you kind of put the body into the hearth and it changes the way that you physically feel and think mm-hmm. <Affirmative> and also can have a big influence on our perception and our, our sense of time as well. So I guess there's, there's not <laugh> not many things in the day that I don't really draw inspiration from. And I do feel like although the paintings can feel like a complete thesis of, you know, of, of a, of a si skyscape there is a continuum into kind of just the consciousness of our life, <laugh>, that they're just kind of these little moments that are pulled from.
Michael Lagerman:
Yeah. I wonder what painting the night sky at night has to like that limited control and visibility of what, to be able to not see what you're doing in complete brightness. There's something really beautiful about that.
John Riepenhoff:
Thanks. I feel like we, no matter how much intention we think we have and we put into our world, we're capturing in anything that we create so much more information about our time and ourselves than we could, than we'll ever actually have the ability to totally know mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, as long as you kind of put yourself out there and our vulnerable, and kind of try to take risks and be just be open I think that we can kind of achieve even more than we intend. <Laugh> <laugh>,
Elisabeth Gasparka:
I'm so glad you brought up Sauna also. And it strikes me that that's another sort of Ational project as well. Every time you enter the sauna space, you're, you're signing up to put your body through something and experience something, right?
John Riepenhoff:
Yeah. Hopefully it's a di in the same way that screens, I think really alter our, our perception of time. The sauna can do a little bit of a different type of reset for that same, that same type of exercise. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. Slow it down a bit, hopefully <laugh>. Yeah. <laugh>.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So, John, I'm just, I'm curious though, in a world where many people have, you know, a huge diverse range of creative impulses, and then on the other side of the coin we have the sort of emergent technology of artificial intelligence, what do you think makes someone an artist?
John Riepenhoff:
You know, I think that if someone identifies as an artist, then they're an artist. And that probably could include ai. I have <laugh> <laugh>.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Let's ask it. <Laugh>.
John Riepenhoff:
Yeah. I mean, honestly, I don't know. I, it's, it's such a, I guess I, if somebody does identify as an artist, then that makes 'em an artist. And that might also include if AI identifies that way as well. <Laugh>.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Yeah. We should definitely ask AI if it feels like an artist today. That's what we'll be doing after we close this interview.
John Riepenhoff:
Straight artist identified. Isn't that what that stands for? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't know what <laugh>.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Awesome. Well, thanks so much for spending some time with us today, John. It's been wonderful to hear your insights.
John Riepenhoff:
Thanks for having me. Thanks for providing a bit of a voice for our arts community here. I've been enjoying the conversations. Cool. Thanks John. Thank you.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the show, please share it with others. Post about it, leave a reading or review or contact us. Creative MKE is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Elisabeth Gasparka. It is recorded in beautiful downtown Milwaukee with engineering support from the good folks at Podcamp Media Creative MKE's theme music was written and produced by Bobby Drake. To get involved or learn more about the work of Imagine MKE, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or visit us on the web.
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