Andrew T Trembley

Tuesday afternoon, we went downtown to look at the collection of outdoor sculptures arranged along Wisconsin Avenue as part of the new Scupture Milwaukee event. Planned to be an annual thing, the exhibit has 22 sculptures from around the world installed along the city’s main street, from its east end (near the De Suvero “Sunrise” installation) west to N. 6th St.

We were fortunate to encounter some of the Downtown Guides who had just taken part in a kickoff event for the exhibition, who were able to give us a map and guide, as some of the pieces are set back from the street, and it’s possible to miss some of the smaller ones.
The pieces represent a wide variety of styles. Most are quite large, appropriate for outdoor settings.

Perhaps our favorite was one of the most spectacular pieces, “S2” by Santiago Calatrava, architect of the famous Milwaukee Art Museum wing. This dynamic piece is made up of interlocking metal sections, held together with tensioned cables. It reminds one of both a buzz-saw and a hurricane map, and looks striking and dangerous.

There’s also “Vortex” by Saint Clare Cemin, an inverted stainless steel tornado reaching for the sky; “Rose #2 (Icon Red)” by Will Ryman; “Immigrant Family,” by Tom Otterness, a charmingly cartoony grouping although ten feet tall in bronze; “Reina Mariana” by Manolo Valdes; and “Big Piney” by Deborah Butterfield, a very effective depiction of a horse as done in found branches (then also cast in bronze).

This was a very interesting exhibit, and gave us a good walk through our city on a lovely day. We hope this proves successful and indeed annual.

Early Sunday, we enjoyably killed some time by going to see Despicable Me 3.

In this outing, Gru (Steve Carell) and Lucy (Kristen Wiig) are both working for the Anti-Villain League, trying to take down ‘80’s themed supervillain Balthasar Bratt (Trey Parker). Bratt had a TV show in which he played “Evill Bratt” (yes, spelled that way) in the 1980’s which was canceled when he hit puberty and wasn’t cute any longer. Now he’s taking it out on society and general and Hollywood in particular by committing crimes base on his old show. Bratt continues to evade capture, although Gru has foiled his theft attempts. This isn’t good enough for the new AVL director Valerie da Vinci, who gives Gru and Lucy the sack.

Things are rather dark for Gru: with no job, he’s resisting the call of villainy, which causes the Minions to abandon him. Then, he finds that he has a long-lost twin brother, Dru (also voiced by Carell).

Dru is well-off, having inherited a pig-farming business from the father Gru had thought dead. Dear Old Dad, it turns out, was also a villain, and Dru wants Gru to teach him the ropes so he can carry on the family tradition.

This is of course a troubling prospect for Gru, although it does give him a chance to strike back at Bratt. Meanwhile, Lucy is working on being a Mom to the girls, with mixed results. How all this works out is of course very funny, and a visual delight with all the over-the-top gadgets. The 80’s references are fun to catch.

A must-see if you have been following the series.