Atomic Records. Klinger’s East. Milwaukee County Stadium.
Wisconsin artist Nate Rose recently caught attention for recreating these local landmarks of the past as tiny paintings inside Altoid tins.
Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez spoke with Rose about his latest series of paintings he calls Milwaukee Memories and where his inspiration stems from.
“So far, all of the memory paintings that I've done are places that I have a personal connection to,” says Rose, who’s based in De Pere. “Atomic Records — I used to live above it on the Oakland side. Me and my buddy were DJs at the time, this was around 2008/2009 … we’d go down to Atomic and buy records all the time, and we actually lived there when it closed. Then, Klinger’s East is just a very cozy kind of Wisconsin tavern. I have many fond memories of watching Packers games there … and the County Stadium, I just went there all the time as a kid with my dad. We'd go to Brewers games together.”
Rose says the series captures a sense of nostalgia, and he hopes people reminisce over their own fond memories of the places he paints.
“Just stop and appreciate what's there because, in my research for all of these paintings, I found that it’s very hard to find photos of these places that are no longer there,” he says. “So, I would say, take a lot of pictures, because if a place goes out of business or is no longer there for whatever reason, it's nice to be able to look back and see them.”
Rose also creates regular-sized paintings of other Wisconsin landscapes and landmarks, roadside attractions like the World’s Largest Strawberry and various abstract paintings.
You can see more of Rose’s work on his Etsy, Instagram and his website.
