2975—Thurman’s 15, Milwaukee, 2009
Pigment print on rag paper
In Carl Corey’s photograph, 2975—Thurman’s 15, Milwaukee, a solitary foosball table takes center stage, illuminated by a glowing dome of light above. The room is shrouded in a reddish hue, its back wall blanketed by iconic posters of aging rock, blues, and folk legends—Ted Nugent, Frank Zappa, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Art Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills and Nash. The photograph features Thurman’s 15, a living shrine to a by-gone era of rock-and-roll glory where both aging hippies and young college students congregate to drink, socialize, and listen to music blaring from the vintage jukebox. The bar is located in Milwaukee’s Lower East Side, an eclectic neighborhood that was known as a countercultural mecca during the 1960s and 70s. Although still considered one of the city’s popular entertainment and cultural centers, the area is undergoing a period of gentrification with private developers buying property and driving up the cost of living. As new developments threaten to distill the distinct, alternative flavor of the neighborhood, this photograph takes on a ruminative quality.
Coming from a documentary tradition, Carl Corey captures the ordinary, but elevates simple scenes of American life to the level of iconic significance. For the Wisconsin Tavern League series, Corey focused his lens on local bars and barkeeps. Pointing to the isolation caused by an accelerated use of current technology—from Facebook and Twitter to texting and I-Pod applications—and the demise of neighborhood establishments in favor of newer, impersonal, commercial spaces, Corey views these community taverns as valuable outposts of local culture and comfort. Offering a public space to congregate and socialize, local bars continue to cultivate a much needed sense of camaraderie and belonging, and Corey’s photographs pay tribute to this enduring spirit of the Wisconsin tavern. His series also reflects a sense of impending loss, a need to document and memorialize these places before they are outpaced by our changing cultural and electronic habits.
