WAUKESHA – Joshua Lesniak is exhibiting sculpted works in mixed media in the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha Fine Arts Center Gallery now through December 23.
The gallery, located in the Fine Arts Center on campus at 1500 N. University Dr., is open Mondays from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Tuesdays from 9:00 -10:00 a.m., and Fridays from 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. For access Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays between 9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and Tuesdays until 3:00 p.m., see Diane in Room S010 of the same building. Phone (262) 521-5445 to arrange viewing at other times. The gallery will be open during special events in the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre as well. Admission is free, and the public is welcome.
Lesniak introduces the viewer with a formal frame announcing his "Polack Potty Trick" by Joshua Phillip Lesniak and then dangles a photo in a zip lock bag of himself below it. He seems to be playing with the theme of potty brain while giving almost all clean, white portrayals.
He re-emphasizes his brow furrow in another painting that is footnoted with a painting of "his friends," also enclosed in a plastic bag hung beneath the main work. He’s nestled a ceramic toilet bowl on a couple of pillows and partly covered the "potty head" with a cozy quilt. His potty theme includes a sewer pipe with handprints on a wall sliding toward it. More haunting, a pastel hanging with a black slash that breaks the surface at the same forward angle as his brow furrow is mounted next to the sewer sculpture and seems to point to it. In another image, he has placed a suitcase in the midst of unnamed books and filled it with photos of glimmering toilets and urinals. Even the white filmy work has a white sheet ending with a pillow at the end – resting on the floor below it.
An assistant professor of art, Lesniak has been teaching design, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, and modern art at UW-Washington County since 2001, and previously taught sculpture at UW-Milwaukee. He holds a BFA from East Carolina University, Greenville, and an MFA from UW-Milwaukee. To augment his education, he traveled to Estonia, Latvia and Russia to "experience art in quickly changing, unstable regions of the world." While in Estonia, he facilitated an iron pour at the Tallinn Art University.
He also performs with a band locally.
UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses. For information on programs, admission or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at (262) 521-5200 or visit the Web at waukesha.uwc.edu. |
