The Black Cat Alley Project: Grand Opening.

If you're an artist in Milwaukee, get ready to work! Great things are happening all over the city, accentuated by yesterday's Grand Opening of the Black Cat Alley Project, part of the annual Doors Open event.

Artists include MTO, Cera, John Kowalczyk, Jenny Jo Kristan, Renee Aless Martinez, Ian McGibbon, Brandon Minga, Jeff Redmon, Bunnie Reiss, Tia Richardson and Adam James Stoner.

Check them out on the website or facebook for more info.

Get over to the Black Cat Alley Project website for more info and make sure to check out this great project as it continues to bring new and exciting art to the streets of Milwaukee.

Join the conversation over on Facebook and Instagram

Check out more of Daniel's work at the links below or send him an email with questions or inquiries.
http://www.dflemingart.com/
http://danielflemingart.tumblr.com/archive

Look Elsewhere, Orlando. 6/11/2014

Look Elsewhere, Orlando.
36x44"
Acrylic on canvas.

Inspired by the sudden and somewhat mysterious death of a friend, Look Elsewhere, Orlando is a portrait of those lost addressing or confronting that from which they are attempting to overcome.

The title speaks to the attempt to escape that issue through a change of location, ultimately realizing that the issue, not the place, is the problem. Symbolized by the Lion, the subject gazes backward, finding the "issue" driving them forward. In a state of shock, the subject realizes that "issue" continuing to follow, despite them having turned their back before. This is not meant to display someone running away...to show a weak or strong character...but to acknowledge the constant presence of our vices, despite our best efforts.

Rather than laying blame, showing anger, hoping to change the future or denying the current state, the piece memorializes a vision of the person lost simply living alongside that which drove them, for better or worse.

L.E.O. is not a piece celebrating life, damning vices nor glossing over reality, it simply shows the state of things.

El Dorado. 2/7/2016

El Dorado.44x54"
Mixed media on canvas.

Despite more technology at our fingertips, more information at our disposal, more options for what to do with our future, and more ability to move from place to place than every before in the history of humanity, many find ourselves yearning daily for what is just beyond our reach. We seem to have every possible avenue for happiness, yet we continue to search for something beyond.

El Dorado takes inspiration from the age-old tale of the search for the lost golden city as a metaphor for our constant desire for what's next. Conquistadors came, conquered, and destroyed civilizations, yet, for centuries, they continued to arrive simply wanting more but often leaving in worse shape (or not at all). After obtaining virtually everything, they found only an insatiable desire for more.

El Dorado is not arguing that you should not seek to improve ones circumstance...it is not saying that you should be content where you are. It is arguing that if you are to move onto the next thing, that that new thing be worthwhile and not simply done out of restlessness.

Many continuously think "better" is just somewhere that they are not...and that's the crux of the issue. When change is simply an avenue to encounter something "better", that avenue must continue as those new places become familiar and, yet again, boring. If change is an avenue to improving the self, the change itself ceases to be the goal and a destination can be found.