…News…News…News…News…

For release September, 2008   Contact: Eike Waltz

831-688 6651/ 831-359 0220

OUT EXHIBITION QUESTIONS THE PRICE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Artists Sheila Halligan-Waltz and Eike Waltz test free speech in a provocative tandem art exhibition in a vast rented space: The Mill Gallery, 131 Front St., Santa Cruz

Oct 3-Nov 3, 2008…timed to precede the elections

SANTA CRUZ, CA/Oct-Nov, 2008.  Artists Sheila Halligan-Waltz and Eike Waltz ‘wear their opinions on their sleeves’ in an exhibition which the two have invested a year and a small fortune to produce, without profit in mind, in order to express their growing outrage at democracy they consider betrayed by the Bush Administration. OUT is an exhibition of large-scale oil on canvas paintings of documented or symbolic scenes from the Bush administration by Sheila Halligan-Waltz, and provocative Sculpitti (three-dimensional graffiti: name coined by the artist) sculpture by Eike Waltz. For the month preceding the November 4 elections, the couple rented the cavernous Mill Gallery in Santa Cruz to mount the exhibition which they will staff from 11am to 8pm daily with performances and events every Friday and Saturday (Event schedule attached)—all to engage people in thinking about the cost of the American Dream as proscribed and “defended” by the Bush Administration.

This is their political action. In 2004 and 2006 they rented galleries in San Francisco and Santa Cruz to present Sheila Halligan-Waltz Outrage/Outreach, scathing giant portraits of the first Bush cabinet and key figures in the administration, many with backgrounds of montaged headlines and press photos. In the exhibition, Eike’s figurative bronze sculpture served as a counterpoint to the expressionistic figures on the wall. The art was accompanied by music and reading/performances by Eike. Each exhibition attracted large audiences.  All attempted to grapple with the betrayal of American ideals.

The 2008 exhibition was confirmed before a national movement of artists concerned about American policies and principals, artofdemocracy.org, called for and networked political exhibitions throughout the country in the months preceding the election. OUT is now part of that movement. “I hope everyone will see the Exhibition and ask themselves ‘aren’t we really ready for a change?” says Sheila.

For information about the exhibition, call Eike Waltz, 831-688 6651 or 359 0220.

OUT – Exhibition Show Program – 2008 at the Mill Gallery, SC

An exhibition of Painful Paintings by Sheila and Sculpitti by Eike

The Program

3. Oct       :  Music – Russo Alberts Jazz Trio

                    Kirby - SCICA

                    Barbie Song

                   Agnieszka Laska Dansers – The Fall 01 - Best Choreography 2008

4. Oct       :  Music – Mighty Mike Schermer  

                   Barbie Song

                   Agnieszka Laska Dansers – The Fall 01 – Best Choreography 2008

10. Oct     : Music – Danjuma and Friends/Afro beat

                   Barbie Song

11. Oct     : Music - Live Looping Artist-Rick

                   Barbie Song

17. Oct     : Music – Russo Alberts Jazz Quartet

                   Barbie Song

18. Oct     : Music – Battlehooch

                   Barbie Song

24. Oct     : Music – Danjuma and Friends/Afro beat

                   Barbie Song

25. Oct     : Music – Malima Kone/Reggae-Fusion

                   Barbie Song

                  Funky Fashion Show with: Lynn Gunter, Jeff Caplan, Michelle Stitz,

                  J Rosella Myers, Kathleen Crocetti, Rose Sellery, Amy Bobeda, Eike Waltz

31. Oct      : Music – Surprise

                   Barbie Song

                   Kuzanga Marimba

                   Halloween    

1. Nov       : Music – Funky Chester

                    Richard Stockton

                    Barbie Song

3. Nov       : Music – Russo Alberts Jazz Trio

                    Keynote: Art Hazelwood (art of democracy)

                    Barbie Song

                    Town Hall Mtg

2008 “OUT”  invitation

…News…News…News…News… 

For release September, 2008     Contact: Eike Waltz

                                    831-688 6651/ 831-359 0220 

OUT EXHIBITION QUESTIONS THE PRICE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Artists Sheila Halligan-Waltz and Eike Waltz test free speech in a provocative tandem art exhibition in a vast rented space: The Mill Gallery, 131 Front St., Santa Cruz

Oct 3-Nov 3, 2008…timed to precede the elections 
 

SANTA CRUZ, CA/Oct-Nov, 2008.  Artists Sheila Halligan-Waltz and Eike Waltz ‘wear their opinions on their sleeves’ in an exhibition which the two have invested a year and a small fortune to produce, without profit in mind, in order to express their growing outrage at democracy they consider betrayed by the Bush Administration. OUT is an exhibition of large-scale oil on canvas paintings of documented or symbolic scenes from the Bush administration by Sheila Halligan-Waltz, and provocative Sculpitti (three-dimensional graffiti: name coined by the artist) sculpture by Eike Waltz. For the month preceding the November 4 elections, the couple rented the cavernous Mill Gallery in Santa Cruz to mount the exhibition which they will staff from 11am to 8pm daily with performances and events every Friday and Saturday—all to engage people in thinking about the cost of the American Dream as proscribed and “defended” by the Bush Administration. 

This is their political action. In 2004 and 2006 they rented galleries in San Francisco and Santa Cruz to present Sheila Halligan-Waltz Outrage/Outreach, scathing giant portraits of the first Bush cabinet and key figures in the administration, many with backgrounds of montaged headlines and press photos. In the exhibition, Eike’s figurative bronze sculpture served as a counterpoint to the expressionistic figures on the wall. The art was accompanied by music and reading/performances by Eike. Each exhibition attracted large audiences.  All attempted to grapple with the betrayal of American ideals. 

The 2008 exhibition was confirmed before a national movement of artists concerned about American policies and principals, artofdemocracy.org, called for and networked political exhibitions throughout the country in the months preceding the election. OUT is now part of that movement. “I hope everyone will see the Exhibition and ask themselves ‘aren’t we really ready for a change?” says Sheila. 

For information about the exhibition, call Eike Waltz, 831-688 6651 or 359 0220. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

PASSIONATE AMERICAN

Sheila Halligan-Waltz’s biography reveals a woman

and an artist raised in the American Dream. 

She was born, the fourth child of six, to Roger John Halligan, an Irish/Catholic and Ruth Lorena Brewer, a French/Indian Protestant. .Her self described “very happy small town “childhood” began in Streator, Illinois and culminated when she moved to the “Windy City.” Dublin. After attending summer and fall classes at the Art Institute of Chicago they moved to Indiana and then to California. 

In California she met her first mentor, artist Robert Vala. Vala had spent years with the Ballet Russ in Monte Carlo, Monaco as a set designer and understood the passion in expressive art. Vala worked with Sheila for over ten years and, in her words, Vala encouraged “Sheila to be Sheila.” 

Speaking from the perspective of the American Dream, :”Sheila’s” work poses relevant questions about the price Americans pay for our dreams. With her paintings, “Sheila” encourages those lucky enough to live the American Dream to question what has been done in the name of freedom and democracy. She confronts us with the dishonesty, hypocrisy and greed of the Bush administration. 

The decoupage portrait of John Ashcroft (the former Attorney General) depicts a bust, flanked by a collage of masterpieces of Western Civilization. “Sheila” uses color in the manner of Vincent Van Gogh to convey a psychological likeness. Her subject’s facial features, like the worry lines and the bags underneath his eyes are etched in a sickly vein-blue. His skin is a swirling mixture of purple and pink akin to a marbled meat. He is dressed in the costume of a priest and surrounded by famous paintings of the female nude. 

The composition recalls the “Torment of St Anthony” (1480-1490) by Martin Schongauer (1450-1491) because the image of Ashcroft is centered, like St Anthony is, within a sea of temptations. St Anthony is tempted by hideous demons that tear him apart by his limbs. Ashcroft’s demons and temptations are symbolized by examples of the female nude from art history. For Sheila and her audience the hypocrisy is clear, Ashcroft spoke of defending freedom abroad, but censors a sculpture of a female nude, a universal symbol of fine art.

In another decoupage portrait of Donald Rumsfeld, Sheila applies the same technique and style to make a stark comment on the Bush administration’s double standards in the war on terror. Again, Sheila depicts her subject in colors that convey a psychological state rather than a physical likeness. Rumsfeld’s facial features and complexion depict a man suffocated by the white collar and patriotic tie pinched around his neck like the noose from the Abu Ghraib scandal. Sheila repeatedly collages the words shocking and awful into the portrait echoing the name of the subject matter from a psychological perspective. In that vein, the color and the collage are as important to the portrait as the facial features of her subjects. Like a Saint is identified by his attributes, Ashcroft and Rumsfeld become identifiable by their modern day equivalents to a Saint’s attribute. 

The full political portrait “line up” includes: George W Bush, Rice, Cheney, Rove, Powell, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz, Bremer, Rumsfeld, Franks, Hussein, Arafat, Sharon, Bin Laden, 911. 

To view Sheila’s political portraits apart from her other paintings is to misunderstand her body of work. She says, “My passion became painting to express my emotions. Everything undergoes a deep emotional process that is sexually, compassionately and/or socially driven.” In the spirit of that, her other portraits, (not shown in “OUT”) like the portrait of Pablo Picasso, indicate the emotional presence of her subject. The portraits begin at the shoulders or the neck and as a result they inhabit an intimate space with the viewer. A misty atmosphere softens the portrait and expresses the emotional character of her sitter. There is no collage surrounding the subject in a sea of confusion and violence, like there are in her political portraits. 

Not shown in “OUT” are her socially driven paintings dealing with the issues of Aids, Breast Cancer, Gays, Hunger and the Catholic Doctrine asking you to stop and think and think again in an environment where understanding and help is required where colors and brush strokes matter little to Sheila. The issue counts. The subjects face the viewer and make eye contact with the viewer establishing an even greater human relationship. 

Sheila’s artistic choice is not only relevant it is brave. In our America, a mother mourning the loss of her son, a fallen soldier, can be and was arrested for wearing a t-shirt that read: Bush killed my son. But, courage has always been the driving force behind the masterpieces of art. Pivotal art has never been safe. Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937) painted and presented in the tense and precarious political climate of pre WWII Europe was daring. In that spirit Picasso spoke of art’s power in society: 

“Art is never been chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes art, is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.” 

In a similar vein, Sheila realized her duty as an American and an artist was to paint something quite different from her other work and considerably risky in today’s political climate.

Her courage came from her America, her small town childhood and the ability to “never look back.”  

Pivotal art has never been safe. Sheila’s “Iraqi War Table” painting (the 24 foot x 18 foot center piece) as reported by Bob Woodward’s comment in NEWS WEEK Oct. 2006 elevated by the vote for war taken by a hasty Senate - Recorded for ever. 

Exhibitions:

2004 “Outrage” Gallery Sutter 532, San Francisco

2006 “Outrage Outreach” The Mill Gallery, Santa Cruz

2008 “OUT” The Mill Gallery, Santa Cruz 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Eike Waltz                                                                                                                                                                       Biography

An American by Choice 

Born in Germany at the beginning of WWII and influenced by the childhood experience of WWII.

After turbulent 40s and 50s “Wirtschaftswunder” survival ethics he had graduated from a business school and a 4 year engineering apprenticeship. Accidentally, he landed on the stage of an open air theater in the midst of a ballet rehearsal. What an opportunity. Eike became a professional ballet dancer (passport profession: dancer) for the next 12 years (Munich Staatsoper, Hamburg Staatsoper, Berlin Deutsche Oper). Catullus in Catulli Carmina (Orff) was his major role.” I was lucky to have worked with great choreographers”. 

Realizing the limited career of a ballet dancer he applied for the “Akademie Druck und Werbung” in Berlin to study as an exhibition designer. Personal development brought him to London where he joined the “London College of Printing” followed by the “Royal College of Art” where he graduated with a Masters in both Fine Art (Sculpture) and Industrial Design (Engineering Design) in a short period of time. 

Once again, engineering occupied his time. Chief Engineer with ITT Components (“British Standard Institute” delegate to the International Electrotechnical Commission-IEC), followed by Technical Manager for two companies (setting up companies in the UK, USA and Japan), Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers IEEE 1101 committee chair, PICMG author, American National Standards Institute-ANSI-United States National Committee-USNC chief delegate for IEC SC48D. “I am fascinated by the development in the electronic industry and their need for mechanical and cooling solutions”. 

Eike retired 2006 only to start two companies, an engineering consultancy called “mm3 consulting” and an art company called “f-artstatements” (f-for fine art, if you like). 

Eike’s key contribution to Sheila’s  “OUT” exhibition is a sculpture (Sculpitti) depicting the Statue of Liberty turned into Barbie…called “Liberty Suspended”. Eike claims that our media rating system has turned the average American into Barbies unable to comprehend what the buzz word “Change” really means (Remember: GW Bush wanted change too).  

Sculpitti is the 3 dimensional counter to Graffiti.

Sculpitti are a style of sculptures by eike waltz which do not fit into any recognized style or category allowing the creator to provide for a 3 dimensional visual “focal point”. Whilst the “focal point” (the sculptures) remains, over time the statement/message attached (to the sculptures) lost its purpose thus the statement/message is altered or replaced to serve a new purpose.

Exhibitions:

1973 Royal College – London

1973 The London Group at the White Chapel Gallery – London

1974 Are you a dancer – Mini Minor Rooftop show - London

1974 Private show for a Ballet Director - London

1977 Some foot in a lake – Harlow

1978 Choreography – “Con Amore” – London/Harlow

2004 Outrage – San Francisco

2006 Outrage / Outreach – Santa Cruz

2008 River Arts Festival – Santa Cruz

2008 OUT – Santa Cruz 

PRESS 

2006 - GoodTimes, Santa Cruz, CA

October  

Outrage, Outreach, In Touch

Art illuminates “truth” in bold, new works – by Heather Paul 

Art illuminates 'truth' in bold, new works Two American flags made of bandages stretch across the room. One flag faces left, the other, right. There are no stars on the fields of blue—instead, rows of white crosses march like tombstones toward the bleeding stripes. The blue cemeteries are backgrounds for portraits of an elephant and a donkey, who glare down menacingly from their respective sides. Each animal has a Latin inscription. "Elephantus Vitio" ("Corrupt Elephant") marks the Republican Party, while the Democratic Party's donkey bares the tag "Asinus Sum" ("I am an ass"). According to artists Sheila Halligan-Waltz and Eike Waltz, both political parties are guilty of outrageous acts, and the American people writhe together beneath the two hemorrhaging flags.

This creative couple believes that although the world is clouded by deceit, corruption, and greed, art can illuminate the truth. Sheila's collages of articles and photographs, scandals and propaganda surround portraits of world leaders such as George Bush, Condoleeza Rice, John Ashcroft, and Saddam Hussein. This is the Outrage portion of Sheila's Outrage-Outreach exhibition, which is free and open to the public through Nov. 3 in the Hide Gallery on Front Street. The Outrage collection attempts to tell what the artists see as the "truth" about contemporary life and politics. "These pieces are not just our views," Waltz said. "They are documentaries—they show what is actually happening in the world." Whether or not the truth itself is apparent in the art, the sheer shock value of these portraits inspires the viewer to question media-endorsed reality, especially because Halligan-Waltz uses media clippings to convey what she sees as the truth.

The exhibit is made up of four sections. The first section, Outrage, contains political paintings, sculptures and installations. Section two is called Outreach, a painting collection that depicts AIDS, breast and lung cancer, the devastation surrounding Hurricane Katrina, paintings of gays and lesbians, and a provocative examination of religion and birth control. The third section is a compilation of portraits and sculptures of friends and family, and a couple of well-known Santa Cruz personalities, such as Pacific Avenue's Umbrella Man. The final section is Eike Waltz's collection of swan-ballerina sculptures, which, Waltz hopes, will soon adorn Santa Cruz's Water Street Bridge.

When their art premiered in San Francisco in 2004, Halligan-Waltz says that the exhibit attracted people from "all walks of life, and both political parties." She is not trying to change anyone's political views because she is outraged at both Republicans and Democrats. Democrats, she says, allow the Bush administration "to get away with everything." For example, she is outraged that Bush and Rumsfeld refer to the American soldiers as "collateral damage." She says that the soldiers are not heroes: "They are victims of the government." And thanks to the "fear that the administration has instilled in the American people," she adds, the American people comply, "like little lambs led to our slaughter." Eike Waltz is familiar with this concept, he explains, because he lived in Germany during Hitler's regime.

A closer look at the political portraits in the Outrage collection illuminates Halligan-Waltz's perspective. An image of Bush is smeared with dripping red paint and engulfed in articles about weapons of mass destruction and the war in Iraq. There is a photo of Bush with long brown hair, a beard, and a halo in the background, because, Sheila says, "after 9/11, Bush thought he was Jesus Christ." Several of the popular George Bush playing cards with selected photos and Bush-isms are also part of the collage. He wears the liberal slogan, "no blood for oil" on his shirt, and he holds a dark-skinned baby girl with bleeding limbs in his arms. Halligan-Waltz says she is outraged that the government lied about the reasons for entering Iraq. There are no weapons of mass destruction. Instead, she says, the troops are there to fight—it's "blood for oil." She also believes that our own corrupt government officials will organize corrupt governments in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Meanwhile, they manipulate language to garner support for their agendas, using the word "diplomacy" to name a system that is anything but diplomatic.

The John Ashcroft portrait is equally vivid, but it also has an ironic twist. Ashcroft wears a clerical black robe with a white collar, and his background collage is made up entirely of nude portraits of women. Halligan-Waltz explains that when Ashcroft delivered a speech in front of the statue of the Spirit of Justice, he spent "$8,000 taxpayer to have the statue's bosom covered instead of just moving the podium."

The Outrage is expressed through portraiture combined with collaged media clippings, conveying the artists' view of the truth. The Outreach section, on the other hand, is a collection of heart-wrenching paintings, without the collaged clippings in the background. For example, one of the paintings about AIDS portrays two emaciated African men, one of whom is wrapped in a smudged American flag. The border surrounding the picture says "Broken Promises," "Lies," and "Conditions/Abstinence." The painting also says "AIDS" and "Shame on USA." Halligan-Waltz says this is because U.S. leaders promised to send aid to Africa to combat the AIDS epidemic, but they insisted on certain conditions before they would send help—abstinence. There are also two paintings in the Outreach collection that portray homosexuality. Halligan-Waltz says that "Everyone should be able to live the lifestyle they want to live." The portrait of two gay men is especially "deep," Halligan-Waltz explains, because they are clearly in love, but the dark and gloomy background symbolizes the struggle with AIDS.

Although Eike Waltz is just as outraged as his wife, his project is somewhat different. He hopes that his collection of statues will be a graceful addition to the Water Street Bridge in Santa Cruz. It's a series of figurines, half-human, half-swan. Their human legs and torsos and swan heads are identical in size and shape. Their necks, however, curve and bend in different ways, making each figure uniquely beautiful. Each figure is female except for one. Waltz explains that they are ballerinas from the famous ballet, Swan Lake. Ballerinas are supposed to look exactly the same, but if you look closely, each ballerina has some quality that distinguishes him or her from the rest of the dancers on the stage. That's why the swan necks are different on each statue, representing each figure's individual beauty.

Eike Waltz also delivered a speech at the opening night reception on Saturday, Sept. 30. The oration was a vocal collage—collected phrases, headlines, stories, and events exposed beneath the bleeding stripes of the American flag, much like Halligan-Waltz's Outrage paintings. There will be a closing reception on Friday, Nov. 3 as well. Whether or not the viewers agree with the artists' political beliefs, this thought-provoking exhibition is sure to leave the audience with a sense of shock, outrage, and perhaps even the motivation to express their own beliefs.

--------------------------------------------------------END----------------------------------------------------------------

2004 - Alan Bamberger of <www.artbusiness.com> wrote in his website: 

“Art is about expressing yourself creatively and sharing that expression with others. To make a series of paintings that shirtsleeve your feelings, to rent a gallery space in downtown San Francisco to show those paintings, to share your pain for one month with people you’ve never met, all with no intention of selling a single penny, is not only an act of bravery, but it’s what art is all about at its very central innermost core. No matter what your position on the War in Iraq or the current administration, this is a unique event, and worth seeing. And if you’re an artist, talk to the Halligan-Waltz’s. They’ll remind you why you do what you do”. 

--------------------------------------------------------END-----------------------------------------------------------------

2006 - Santa Cruz, CA – Sentinel  

SHEILA'S OUTRAGE OUTREACH 
 
Exhibit expresses pointed political views, and other impolite topics. 
 
I THROUGH NOV. 3 The Hide Gallery, 131E Front St., Santa Cruz. 
Receptions and readings take place every Friday throughout October 
with a closing reception 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 3. The exhibition is open 11 
a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Details: 688-6651. 
 
By MAUREEN DAVIDSON 
SENTIINEL CORRESPONDENT 
 
Sheila Halligan-Walt and Eike Waltz have made it very simple. They 
have rented the cavernous extension of the Hide Gallery beyond 
Broadway in the South-of-Water district, and mounted an exhibition of 
their art. There is no curator. There are no labels beside the 
paintings and sculpture, no tides, no prices. In "Sheila's Outrage 
Outreach," the viewer needn't feel compelled to assess the value of 
the works in connection with their price, for they are not for sale. 
The paintings, assemblages and sculpture speak volumes, clearly, for 
themselves. And they just aren't polite. 
Wasn't everyone warned as a youth that it wasn't polite to talk with 
strangers about politics, religion, sex or money? Sheila and Eike took 
money out of the conversation right away, and filled a barn size room 
Victorian gallery style with double stacked sizeable paintings that 
express the artists' outrage over the violence done by the Bush 
Administration and the war in Iraq, American aid/AIDS policies and the 
Catholic Church. Visceral portraits of Condoleezza Rice, George W. 
Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and others are painted assemblages of 
news headlines and photographs filled to overflowing with words and 
images from those daily newspaper accounts that make up history: layer 
after layer of documentation encases a powerful portrait of each 
person outrage running off the front of each canvas to continue on the 
sides, with words. 
Political denunciations hang on the right, social statements on the 
left and atop a high wall are posed 18 realistic, life size plaster 
corps de ballet human below the waist, with swan necks and heads, 
Eike's "The Dilemma of Ballet." On pedestals, his smaller bronze and 
resin sculptures are sensuous abstracted figures or futurist style 
portrait busts. The back walls are full of Sheila's 
paintings of friends, family and local characters that are just as 
brimful of content, that occupy their rectangles with the same 
powerful eye to eye communication as do the portraits of political 
leaders. 
But this is Eike's mother, there is Santa Cruz's umbrella man, this is 
friend of Sheila's childhood Sheila tells visitors a story about her, 
but you didn't need the story to know that this woman was a bold and 
delightful character as she meets your eye coquettishly, almost 
defiantly. Among the portraits are erotic paintings of Sheila and Eike 
and others, perhaps to make sure that Miss Manners would still have a 
trio of subjects to offend her. 
In an evening reception one of six held every Friday during the course 
of the show until the last on Nov. 3, Eike Waltz mounted a mid gallery 
staircase under a hanging canopy of stars and stripes made of stitched 
bandages, and, behind a podium, read a statement to the gathering, 
quieting the jazz ensemble, drawing guests away from the reception 
tables. 
He told about the inception of the exhibition the desire of his wife 
Sheila to reach out to people with her painted expressions of outrage: 
to affect them, spur them to awareness and action. His reading was a 
performance, a manifesto, a declaration by him an immigrant that this 
wasn't the American Dream they signed up for. 
There is nothing to do but respond to the passionate message, so 
forcibly delivered. The works are consistently impactful. Sheila 
studied at the Chicago Art Institute. Eike is a German born graduate 
of the Royal Academy of Art, former ballet dancer and friend of Rudolf 
Nureyev, and an engineer whose success in technology and management 
made this exhibition, and it's predecessor, in another ersatz gallery 
near Union Square in San Francisco, possible. 
Art impolite, without price, communicating passionately, demands your attention. 
will organize corrupt governments in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle 
East. Meanwhile, they manipulate language to gamer support for their 
agendas, using the word "diplomacy" to name a system that is anything 
but diplomatic. 
The John Ashcroft portrait is equally vivid, but it also has an ironic 
twist. Ashcroft wears a clerical black robe with a white collar, and 
his background collage is made up entirely of nude portraits of women. 
Halligan Waltz explains that when Ashcroft delivered a speech in front 
of the statue of the Spirit of Justice, he spent "$8,000 taxpayer to 
have the statue's bosom covered instead of just moving the podium." 
The Outrage is expressed through portraiture combined with collaged 
media clippings, conveying the artists' view of the truth. The 
Outreach section, on the other hand, is a collection of heart 
wrenching paintings, without the collaged clippings in the background. 
For example, one of the paintings about AIDS portrays two emaciated 
African men, one of whom is wrapped in a smudged American flag. The 
border surrounding the picture says "Broken Promises," "Lies," and 
"Conditions/Abstinence." The painting also says "AIDS" and "Shame on 
USA." Halligan Waltz says this is because U.S. leaders promised to 
send aid to Africa to combat the AIDS epidemic, but they insisted on 
certain conditions before they would send help, abstinence. There are 
also two paintings in the Outreach collection that portray 
homosexuality. Halligan Waltz says that "Everyone should be able to 
live the lifestyle they want to live." The portrait of two gay men is 
especially "deep," Halligan Waltz explains, because they are clearly 
in love, but the dark and gloomy background symbolizes the struggle 
with AIDS. 
Although Eike Waltz is just as outraged as his wife, his project is 
somewhat different. He hopes that his collection of statues will be a 
graceful addition to the Water Street Bridge in Santa Cruz. It's a 
series of figurines, half-human, half-swan. Their human legs and 
torsos and swan heads are identical in size and shape. Their necks, 
however, curve and bend in different ways, making each figure uniquely 
beautiful. Each figure is female except for one. Waltz explains that 
they are ballerinas from the famous ballet, Swan Lake. Ballerinas are 
supposed to look exactly the same, but if you look closely, each 
ballerina has some quality that distinguishes him or her from the 
rest of the dancers on the stage. That's why the swan necks are 
different on each statue, representing each figure's individual 
beauty. 
Eike Waltz also delivered a speech at the opening night reception on 
Saturday, Sept. 30. The oration was a vocal collage collected phrases, 
headlines, stories, and events exposed beneath the bleeding stripes of 
the American flag, much like Halligan Waltz's Outrage paintings. There 
will be a closing reception on Friday, Nov 3 as well. Whether or not 
the viewers agree with the artists' political beliefs, this thought 
provoking exhibition is sure to leave the audience with a sense of 
shock, outrage, and perhaps even the motivation to express their own 
beliefs.