John Riepenhoff

John Riepenhoff: My name's John Riepenhoff. I was born and I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I run an art gallery called the Green Gallery, along with my business partner Jake Palmert.

The John Riepenhoff Experience is like a miniature gallery that's mounted in small box on the wall. The only way to access it is to climb up on a ladder and inside that box is a miniature world that I give over control to another artist's ideas and artwork.

The John Riepenhoff Experience in some ways was a way to invite people from all the way from children up to art historians to think about the institution of something that's not small, but malleable. Decisions can be made about it from anyone. If you have any opinion, step up and participate. So in some ways, that smallness creates this feeling of bigness for the viewer.

Narrator: The works on view in the John Riepenhoff Experience will change over the course of the Biennial. The exhibitions will feature Milwaukee-based artist Nicholas Frank, Los Angeles-based artist Martyne Sims, and finally an anonymous work from the Whitney’s collection.

Riepenhoff’s other work on view also comes in part from his work as a gallerist. It plays with the idea of being someone who supports other artists’ work, both literally and figuratively.