Three Degrees of Francis Bacon: From Viewer to Artist and Back Again

Milwaukee, WI, February 2007— The Milwaukee Art Museum once again teams up with Cedar Block for another interactive art event: Three Degrees of Francis Bacon , Friday, March 23, 8 p.m.-Midnight. For this special night, regional artists working in a range of media will reveal the works they created incorporating the material submitted by visitors to the Francis Bacon: Paintings from the 1950s exhibition. $7/$5 Members.

Francis Bacon found inspiration by kicking around in his studio, a chaotic mess where he lived and worked. The process of sifting through the piles of magazines, newspaper clippings, books, photographs, and scraps of interesting ephemera provided Bacon with the source material for the images in his intense and intimate paintings. The Museum and Cedar Block invite the public to help create the same environment for the Three Degrees participating artists. “This is the third collaboration between the Museum and Cedar Block and the first to engage the local community in the act of inspiration. The evening is a perfect opportunity to expose a fresh audience to world-class art in an exciting social atmosphere,” said Fran Serlin, director of Public Programs at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Director of Cedar Block, Brent Gohde, credits the quality of the Museum’s exhibitions for the success of these community happenings: “The Milwaukee Art Museum continues to have incredible exhibitions that lend themselves to creative and innovative events such as this.”

First Degree

Francis Bacon said, “I don’t think people are born artists; I think it comes from a mixture of your surroundings, the people you meet, and luck.” For Three Degrees of Francis Bacon, the public is the first degree. Everyone is invited to visit the Francis Bacon: Paintings from the 1950s exhibition and to then go about their everyday, with the understanding that Bacon was influenced by the stuff of daily life. Once you have selected a few things that resonate (jpegs, mp3’s, links, articles, book reviews, some thoughts, a sketch), send it to mailto:bacon@cedarblock.comby February 28.

Second Degree

The messages and attachments will be forwarded to the participating artists. Each artist will use these emails to create an original work in the spirit of Francis Bacon. The works will be displayed on at the March 23 event at the Museum.

Third Degree

Come to the Museum and close the loop. View the works that were developed from your submissions. If you didn’t get a chance to email your contribution, bring it on March 23 and add it to an interactive piece by participating artist Dwellelephant.

For a full list of artists, visit cedarblock.com. Three Degrees of Francis Bacon is a program created by Cedar Block and produced in collaboration by the Milwaukee Art Museum.

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