Paul Druecke

Shoreline Repast

Milwaukee-based artist Paul Druecke explores the various forms of public inscription that exist in our landscape. From faux National Park service historical markers to poetry-infused welcome mats, his experiments replace official language, that fix value and identity, with alternative narratives and cultural structures that allow us to consider how our world is shaped.

Druecke is interested in all kinds of social gatherings. For example, he documents friends gathering in a kitchen to share their food, which is always at the heart of every community. In these homemade films, the casual atmosphere, low tech aesthetic, and occasional bouts of singing and laughing provide an antidote to modern cooking shows, whose high production value and sophisticated knowledge discourage all but the hearty among us.

Milwaukee-based artist Paul Druecke explores the various forms of public inscription that exist in our landscape. From faux National Park service historical markers to poetry-infused welcome mats, his experiments replace official language, that fix value and identity, with alternative narratives and cultural structures that allow us to consider how our world is shaped.

Druecke is interested in all kinds of social gatherings. For example, he documents friends gathering in a kitchen to share their food, which is always at the heart of every community. In these homemade films, the casual atmosphere, low tech aesthetic, and occasional bouts of singing and laughing provide an antidote to modern cooking shows, whose high production value and sophisticated knowledge discourage all but the hearty among us.

Milwaukee-based artist Paul Druecke explores the various forms of public inscription that exist in our landscape. From faux National Park service historical markers to poetry-infused welcome mats, his experiments replace official language, that fix value and identity, with alternative narratives and cultural structures that allow us to consider how our world is shaped.

Druecke is interested in all kinds of social gatherings. For example, he documents friends gathering in a kitchen to share their food, which is always at the heart of every community. In these homemade films, the casual atmosphere, low tech aesthetic, and occasional bouts of singing and laughing provide an antidote to modern cooking shows, whose high production value and sophisticated knowledge discourage all but the hearty among us.

Paul Druecke

Paul Druecke

Shoreline Repast

Exhibition

Exhibition

Materials & Dimensions

Materials & Dimensions

Double-sided aluminum, paint, steel, recycled wood, hardware.

72 x 78 x 4 inches

Year

Year

2017

Site

Site

910 E Michigan Street (2017) & Catalano Square (2020)

Credits

Credits

Collection of the artist, Courtesy The Green Gallery, Milwaukee. Collection of the artist, New York.

Audio Tour

Audio Tour

0:00/1:34

Druecke is perhaps best known for his Social Archive project begun in 1997. The artist asked friends, neighbors, and colleagues in Milwaukee to submit one picture from their own family photo album. After 10 years Druecke had 731 pictures, which were shown together at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2017. While this snapshot of Milwaukee does not encompass our broadly diverse community, it does suggest the concentric circles that surround each of us, from home, school, and church to the gym and our other various social groups. These anonymous images counter the money-driven celebrity culture that tries to render meaningless the real relationships that fuel our lives.

Drueckes Shoreline Repast, commissioned for the inaugural Sculpture Milwaukee 2017, borrows the visual form of a public, commemorative plaque to celebrate Lake Michigan, the most important site of Milwaukees public rituals. The plaque appears to sink into the ground. The shift in orientation, which reconfigures the plaque's perpendicular, upright relation to the earth, magnifies the symbiotic, conditional nature of landmarks and the culture that erects them. Each side has a different style of language, showing the difference between our public and private worlds.

Druecke is perhaps best known for his Social Archive project begun in 1997. The artist asked friends, neighbors, and colleagues in Milwaukee to submit one picture from their own family photo album. After 10 years Druecke had 731 pictures, which were shown together at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2017. While this snapshot of Milwaukee does not encompass our broadly diverse community, it does suggest the concentric circles that surround each of us, from home, school, and church to the gym and our other various social groups. These anonymous images counter the money-driven celebrity culture that tries to render meaningless the real relationships that fuel our lives.

Drueckes Shoreline Repast, commissioned for the inaugural Sculpture Milwaukee 2017, borrows the visual form of a public, commemorative plaque to celebrate Lake Michigan, the most important site of Milwaukees public rituals. The plaque appears to sink into the ground. The shift in orientation, which reconfigures the plaque's perpendicular, upright relation to the earth, magnifies the symbiotic, conditional nature of landmarks and the culture that erects them. Each side has a different style of language, showing the difference between our public and private worlds.

Druecke is perhaps best known for his Social Archive project begun in 1997. The artist asked friends, neighbors, and colleagues in Milwaukee to submit one picture from their own family photo album. After 10 years Druecke had 731 pictures, which were shown together at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2017. While this snapshot of Milwaukee does not encompass our broadly diverse community, it does suggest the concentric circles that surround each of us, from home, school, and church to the gym and our other various social groups. These anonymous images counter the money-driven celebrity culture that tries to render meaningless the real relationships that fuel our lives.

Drueckes Shoreline Repast, commissioned for the inaugural Sculpture Milwaukee 2017, borrows the visual form of a public, commemorative plaque to celebrate Lake Michigan, the most important site of Milwaukees public rituals. The plaque appears to sink into the ground. The shift in orientation, which reconfigures the plaque's perpendicular, upright relation to the earth, magnifies the symbiotic, conditional nature of landmarks and the culture that erects them. Each side has a different style of language, showing the difference between our public and private worlds.

Michelle Grabner

Untitled

Michelle Grabner

Untitled

Michelle Grabner

Untitled

John Henry

Zach's Tower

John Henry

Zach's Tower

John Henry

Zach's Tower

Sol LeWitt

Tower (Gubbio)

Sol LeWitt

Tower (Gubbio)

Sol LeWitt

Tower (Gubbio)

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*
Lacey Sadoff Foundation

presenting

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Good Karma Brands

leader

Anonymous
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Exhibition Partner

Visionary

George & Karen Oliver

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Hawks Landscaping
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Colophon

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Herb Kohl Philanthropies
Herzfeld Foundation
Hoke Family Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mandel Groups*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*
Lacey Sadoff Foundation

presenting

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Good Karma Brands

leader

Anonymous
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Exhibition Partner

Visionary

Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Hawks Landscaping
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Sign up for our newsletter

Colophon

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee