Susceptible to Images

Roy Staab
Nature Belle

Temporary sculptural installation
25th and W. Canal Street
MilwaukeeRoy Staab

Public art is inherently problematical. While private
purchases and acquisitions are bought for specific
personal reasons and to be enjoyed by their
owners out of the public eye, art located in the
great outdoors seems to be tailor-made for the old
adage that says “you can’t please all the people all
the time.” No matter what someone does to put art
in the public environment, there will always be as
many admirers as detractors. Indeed, in recent
years public art in Milwaukee has attracted
considerable controversial press. Dennis
Oppenheim’s “Blue Shirt” at the airport was
perhaps the most notable example and a salutary
lesson that politicians and art should have mutual
restraining orders taken out against each other.

Interestingly, the “Blue Shirt;” MIAD’s latest outdoor
sculpture by Jin Soo Kim, Mark Di Suvero’s “The
Calling” and Ned Kahn’s work at the new
Discovery World Museum all have one thing in
common: none are by Milwaukee or even
Wisconsin artists. Is it because Wisconsin artists
are not good enough or that artists from outside
the state are just simply felt to be better? This is

Installed in early June as part of the Hank
Aaron State Trail project, coordinated by
Karin Wolf of MIAD and the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources, by the
time this review is read, who knows if the
Belle will still be there. As the artist says, “I
want to project the ephemeral of life in my
artwork and I prefer the forces of nature to
enhance and dismantle them as well.”
Interestingly, and perhaps challengingly, this
is a work that could be installed
permanently. Using steel cable instead of
vines and wire instead of grasses and twine,
this spectacular piece could be made much
more permanent and as it rusted with age,
would take on a patina similar to the original.
I’m sure many manufacturers in Milwaukee
throw out scrap on a daily basis that would
make this possible, but a site would still be
needed. What about its current site? I’m not
suggesting it should be done for free by Roy
Staab, but a permanent piece by one of
Milwaukee – and Wisconsin and the United
States’ -- most talented installation artists
would be a very welcome addition to our
environment and a nod to a superbly
talented artist from our own backyard. What
about it Milwaukee?

Another piece by Roy Staab is currently being
built outside of Hotcakes Gallery in the
Riverwest. Phase two is underway in the
gallery’s sculpture garden.

- Graeme Reid
(Graeme Reid is the assistant director of the
West Bend Museum of Fine Art)

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simply not true. One Milwaukee artist whose work has been shown internationally and has every right to feel
aggrieved that his home town has thrown him what are scraps from a table that is occasionally very well
provisioned is Roy Staab. He has been creating art literally around the world since 1979 and his latest work
in a long series of ephemeral pieces is “Nature Belle,” located in the middle of a roundabout at 25th and
West Canal Street.

On the night I saw it in June, the air was hot as a strong wind blew eastwards down the Menomonee Valley.
The late hour meant the darkness eliminated and downplayed most of the ugly industrialization surrounding
the roundabout, allowing the minimally lit piece to subtly shimmer in the gloaming. Perfectly situated within
the roundabout, Nature Belle’s form describes the shape of a bell or the armature of a Victorian hooped skirt
– the title being a subtle and fun play on words – something not unexpected given Roy’s impish sense of
humor. The Belle’s concentric circular “ribs” taper upwards pivoting on a single, slender sapling which
emphasizes its verticality while providing minimal distraction from the body of the piece. Constructed entirely
of natural vines, grasses and twine, these materials give it a lightness and a fragility that actually belies the
strength of the construction Roy’s work is, in fact, deceiving: it may be intended to be ephemeral, it may be
made of organic materials, but it is superbly constructed and reflects not only his familiarity with his
materials, but how to create form that will slowly, rather than rapidly, deteriorate and return to the earth.