Wisconsin Ave.
The recent life of a storefront.
I put the finishing touches on this painting yesterday. It’s a real place. I photographed it while out exploring around northeast Wisconsin during the pandemic.
These types of mixed used structures with a dwelling in the back and a store up front are always interesting to me. They really describe a certain type of commerce and community that rarely exists anymore. This one in particular was appealing because of the yellow siding and red brick colors. I wonder if the shop was always there or if it was added later on? I did a little digging and learned that prior to this apparent abandonment of the storefront, it was an Asian food and video shop. I would have loved to photograph that business.
Using my own photo and some screenshots from Google Maps I gathered a little timeline of how this building changed between 2007 and 2024. It’s in a slow, midwest decline.
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