Milwaukee, WI

Seasons Turn: “Idris Khan: Repeat After Me” at Milwaukee Art Museum

Published

2 years ago

May 9, 2024

Seasons Turn: “Idris Khan: Repeat After Me” at Milwaukee Art Museum

Idris Khan, “every…William Turner Postcard from Tate Britain,” 2004, chromogenic print, 40″ × 50″/Photo: Idris Khan and Sean Kelly

Marking his first solo U.S. exhibition, Idris Khan’s “Repeat After Me” at the Milwaukee Art Museum is an impressive and expansive overview of the artist’s creative evolution thus far. Beginning with his early digital work in photography, video and sculpture, leading us into his more recent work in painting, and culminating in a new collection of watercolor works created specifically for the show, viewers are given a masterfully curated insight into the artist’s unique creative language. Khan’s work uses repetition as the main recurring motif regardless of medium, exploring themes such as time, memory and loss. Following a chronological timeline, each gallery is both an exciting departure and a continuation from the last as we travel along with Khan in discovering how repetition can be used to better understand time and remembrance.

The show begins with Khan’s early work in photography in which he takes existing media of a similar subject matter and meticulously layers them all into one large file. The resulting images are blurred, overly saturated and difficult to comprehend—and they are meant to be. Khan has stripped away the preconceived understanding that photography produces clear, carbon copy images of one moment in time and instead has created deeply layered and complex works exploring time itself. His works such as “every…William Turner Postcard from Tate Britain” (2004) feel deeply familiar yet distant almost as though they are the result of closing your eyes and conjuring up a William Turner painting from memory.

Idris Khan, “Overture,” 2015, oil on glass with aluminum frame, 96″ x 78″ x 156″/Photo: Idris Khan and Sean Kelly

Following his work with photography, we move onto his text-based work. Applying the same methodologies from before, Khan combines every scanned page of a book into one single image. Just as with the subject matter of the photographs, the “subject” or text becomes impossible to discern. However, it is not the text itself that is important but rather the resulting powerful visual story. This is furthered once again in the next room in which the text from literature is replaced with musical compositions. It is here that his exploration of time really begins to resonate as each musical score exists in its entirety simultaneously.

The first half of the exhibition features Khan working primarily with pre-existing media. In one of the largest departures in the show, we now enter into an exciting place in his practice in which he begins to create pieces created solely by his own hand. It is also where we begin to see his work with sculpture and painting. Repetition remains the driving force behind his art but we are introduced to it being shown in a new light. His work “Overture” (2015), a large-scale sculpture featuring seven large panels of glass hanging vertically, one in front of the other, introduces his work with stamps and his exploration of global crisis and displacement. Each panel of glass is stamped repeatedly with his own writing, creating densely layered abstract shapes where the writing is illegible except for the edges of shapes where broken phrases start to become visible. The repetition becomes deeply personal in his work “My Mother,” a cast of around 360 stacked photos representing his mother’s entire life in photographs.

Idris Khan, “The Seasons Turn,” 2021, oil on mounted paper, twenty-eight panels, each: 25 1/2″ × 21 1/2″/Photo: Idris Khan and Sean Kelly

The exhibition once again takes new form as we begin to view Khan’s work with painting in “The Seasons Turn,” a collection of twenty-eight (seven for each season) watercolor works created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each painting features colors specially chosen to represent a particular season and is stamped with the music of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” Through these works, not only do we see a continuation of his work with musical compositions and repetition, but we are also introduced to a new caliber of his artistic skill—his masterful use of color. When viewed together as one large piece, the colors converse with one another in a symbiotic relationship.

The final room features a new collection of paintings Khan has created specifically for the exhibition. Taking inspiration from five master paintings in the museum’s collection, he has created colorful reinterpretations of paintings stamped with musical compositions created with a digital program directly using the colors from each historical painting. The show is deeply compelling and brilliantly curated to create a powerfully intimate viewing experience. If you were to enter the show not knowing anything about Idris Khan, you will leave a fan excited and eager for future work.

“Idris Khan: Repeat After Me” is on view at Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 North Art Museum Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through August 11.

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Milwaukee, WI

Four new community-powered fridges open on Milwaukee’s North Side

Published

5 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Four new community-powered fridges open on Milwaukee’s North Side

Community members and city leaders celebrated the opening of four new community-powered fridges on the North Side of Milwaukee. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday, Feb. 27, at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, 3624 W. North Ave., to mark the occasion.

The effort to fight food scarcity by opening community-powered fridges comes after several grocery stores closed in the area, creating a food desert.

Ald. Russell W. Stamper, II, emceed the ribbon cutting ceremony for the grand opening of four new community-powered fridges.

District 15 Ald. Russell W. Stamper II, who saw several grocery stores in his district close over the past few years, served as the event’s emcee.

“We could either complain about the problem, or we could come together to find a solution,” Stamper said.

People fill up the community-powered fridge with fresh produce.

In July 2025, a Pick ‘n Save on the North Side closed, prompting the opening of a community-powered fridge at Tricklebee Café in the Sherman Park and Uptown area. Since then, several other grocery stores have closed in the area.

This led Stamper, FEED MKE, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and One MKE to open four more community-powered fridges.

Christie Melby-Gibbons, executive director of Tricklebee Café, talks about opening the first community-powered fridge at her cafe.

Christie Melby-Gibbons, executive director of Tricklebee Café, talked about the organization’s community-powered fridge. About a week ago, the fridge was empty for the first time since its launch, so staff turned to their online community for support.

“Within 20 minutes, a woman came in with bags of food and filled the fridge for less than $100,” Melby-Gibbons said.

Danell Cross (right), executive director at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, Metcalfe Park resident Farina Brooks (left), and other attendees applaud during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The community-powered fridge network is run by residents on a take-what-you-need, leave-what-you-can model. Taking a grassroots approach to solving food insecurity in the area, community members provide fresh produce and other healthy food options to ensure that their neighbors have access to nutritious foods.

Residents line up to fill the community-powered fridge with fresh produce.

“Everybody deserves to eat. I can’t go to sleep at night knowing my neighbors are hungry,” said Melody McCurtis, deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges.

Here’s a list of all the community-powered fridges:

Metcalfe Park Community Bridges

3624 W. North Ave.

Rooted & Rising- Washington Park

3940 W. Lisbon Ave.

Sherman Park Community Association

3526 W. Fond du Lac Ave.

Dominican Center

2470 W. Locust St.

Tricklebee Café

4424 W. North Ave.

Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.

This article first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Milwaukee, WI

At the Bar

Published

17 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

The bar can be “the place” where memories are made, friendships blossom, and stories live forever. This episode of Real Stories MKE features stories from Dasha Kelly, Kristia Wildflower, Shep Crumrine, and Katelyn Nye. Real Stories MKE is hosted by Kim Shine and Joel Dresang with support from producer Jasmine Gonzalez and audio engineer Sam Woods.

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Milwaukee, WI

Pat Murphy Hints Brewers Landed Star Infielder in Caleb Durbin Trade

Published

1 day ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Pat Murphy Hints Brewers Landed Star Infielder in Caleb Durbin Trade

The Milwaukee Brewers were one of the more active teams in the league this offseason and it was one of the more shocking storylines to follow all winter.

They opted to trade Freddy Peralta to the New York Mets, which was a blockbuster deal, but it was expected. Peralta was on an expiring contract, and the Brewers were unlikely to be able to land a long-term deal with him. Milwaukee would much rather have control of Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams for the next five to seven years rather than a singular year of Peralta.

But they also traded Isaac Collins to the Kansas City Royals and Caleb Durbin to the Boston Red Sox. The Collins deal was a head scratcher, but the Durbin deal was the most shocking move of Milwaukee’s offseason.

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The Brewers traded Durbin and two other infielders to Boston in exchange for Kyle Harrison, David Hamilton, and Shane Drohan. Harrison is the biggest addition of the trade. Drohan has already flashed dominant potential this spring. Hamilton, who struggled last season, seemingly has the full belief of Brewers manager Pat Murphy.

David Hamilton could soon become a star for the Brewers

Milwaukee Brewers infielder David Hamilton fields a grounder during spring training workouts Monday, February 16, 2026, at American Family Fields of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona. | Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“He’s got so much ability in there, and he’s got experience, and he might be a utility player but I think he can be really good for us. I think he can take his offensive game to a whole other level,” Murphy said when talking about Hamilton, per Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy.

Last season, Hamilton slashed .198/.257/.333 with a .590 OPS and a 63 OPS+. It was his third year in the big leagues and his second full year at the level and he’s yet to post an OPS+ over 100. But he’s still been worth 3.6 WAR over the last two years because of his defense and baserunning. The issue has been his bat. Even when he hit .248 in 2024, his OPS was under .700.

But Murphy seemingly believes Hamilton could take the next step at the plate, which would set him up to be a very good platoon infielder and versatile bat. He has the chance to quietly develop into a star with the Brewers if he can get his OPS over .700 and closer to .750. Obviously, this isn’t going to be easy, but Murphy seems to believe he’s closer to this breakout than many fans assume.

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