Production of applause and ideastream.

Public media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

Coming up, a story forged by an iron man in Cleveland.

A last look at this Japanese blockbuster before it becomes history.

And the Cleveland Orrchestra makes the most of an unfinished masterpiece.

Hello friends, welcome to another round of “Applause.” Im Ideastream Public Medias Kabir Bhatia.

For more than a century, Clevelands Rose Iron Works has forged beautiful yet delicate artworks from raw metal.

They come from the black smiths who continue the traditions established by founder Martin Rose.

The intricate designs are in the spotlight at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Metal is very malleable.

It's a friendly, friendly medium.

If you treat it with the proper respect and care.

My dad made the observation that anything that could be drawn could actually be produced or created in metal.

Rose ironworks is really a Cleveland treasure.

It is an American treasure.

It is the oldest continually operating decorative metalwork manufacturer, manufacturer and designer in the United States.

It was founded by Martin Rose in 1904.

Here in Cleveland.

Cleveland.

At that time, it was beginning to boom in automotive production and steel heavy manufacturing that brought a focus on the millionaires, if you will, that were building their residences along with their companies, millionaires row was created at that time downtown, and he did an awful lot of work for those homes.

When my grandfather arrived in Cleveland, blacksmiths, six buggies and shoot horses.

They did not do very refined, delicate work in order to show potential customers what he could do with this new skill set.

He crafted a sprig of roses, which he carried with him on sales visits to demonstrate what he, his personal skills were and what could be done with metal.

Martin Rose, my grandfather, was born in a very small town in Hungary, which is now part of the Ukraine.

As legends go.

When he was very young and the way to school, he became enthralled with a blacksmith shop and loved stopping and watching.

That led to him going through the whole apprenticeship program there, working in the shop, learning to be an art blacksmith.

My grandfather came to this country in 1903.

He chose to join family in Cleveland rather than those in New York City, because this is the story goes, he wanted to be a big fish in a little pond instead of a little fish in a big pond.

The exhibition Rose ironworks and Art Deco really looks at the first 30 years of the existence of Rose ironworks here in Cleveland.

So it goes from about 1904 to the early 1930s.

Really.

Explaining the connection of Martin rose to the European tradition of ornamental metalwork, how he brought those techniques, that level of sophistication and education to Cleveland, and how he really responded to movements in Europe, including Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Art Nouveau at the time was a it was a very organic, flowing motif.

But what happened in the Moderne influence was it became much more angular, simpler.

Art Deco really refers to a style that was brought into being as a result of this 1925 Paris exhibition.

It really has a very modern style.

It really capitalized on sort of new materials.

Art Deco was very much about the mechanical and about the new and about forward looking style in terms of the Art Deco design that was produced by rose iron.

We simplified pieces.

We focused on negative space and a balance between positive and negative space.

Very, very much the angular, the triangles, the curves, the floral motifs in the carved work that represent the mainstay of Deco at the time.

The muse with violin screen is one of the more iconic pieces produced by Rose ironworks.

Over the years, The muse with violin screen has been shown at numerous museums all over the United States.

It is probably one of the most recognized examples of the decorative style, and it's enjoyed a lot of publicity.

The muse with violin is about a five foot square piece.

It's surrounded by six decorative floral patterns, and the center section, which is the focus for the name, is a figure that was pretty much contributed to Josephine Baker.

She was a very, very popular entertainer in America, as well as Paris.

It's an incredible tour de force of metalwork.

I think when Bob Rose and his team started looking at it with the idea to make a new version, they were really impressed by how many different techniques, tools, really inventive methods were employed to make this screen.

My concept was to create the identical background, the identical outer frame, but with a different center section, using Josephine Baker's image, using similar shapes for flowers and leaves and petals.

Views with a flower depicts the same figure reaching up and smelling a flower.

And that is the fun part of this work, is that when you take a piece of metal and you stretch it in you form, but you get all of this right on the end, or as you're working.

By the way, back here, we have Melvin Meyer Rose.

My father worked in our company his entire life, and he growing up in our family was that there was never anything other than Rose ironworks.

So, I mean, I can remember as a as a child coming to work with my father, he'd work and I'd go out in the shop.

Dad was in addition to being highly skilled as an artist, he was forced to be creative about ways to keep the company alive.

Melvin Rose took over Rose ironworks from Martin, and he was really responsible for turning the main occupation of the business towards a more industrial side.

And I remember stories where he told the experience of taking blacksmiths who were used to making flowers and stems, and he had to teach them decimals, rules and how to read and very, very precise calipers in order to make industrial work.

So that's when we shifted to the industrial side.

I remember quite vividly being in the focus gallery a few years ago when the Monet show was there, and now I'm looking at it, said, we're in the same gallery as Monet.

You've got to be kidding.

It's an amazing honor to have the show to be mentioned.

I mean, we tease a lot here about being the best kept secret.

We don't talk a lot about ourselves.

We just make metal things.

The exhibit “Rose Iron Works and Art Deco” is on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art through October 19th.

Theres even more to see at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and this summer you cant miss seeing the lifesize Japanese temple in the atrium.

Its the mind blowing brain child fo world famous Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

And thats only the entrance.

Step inside and see an exhibition of his work that's both colorful and dark.

So this is, my protector.

This heart.

Say, I am positive in front of you.

My name is Takashi Murakami.

Takashi Murakami is one of the best known contemporary artists working today.

He makes art that is colorful, shiny, engaging.

It issues an invitation to anyone who encounters it.

But interestingly, once you enter his world, you encounter a very complex landscape.

He combines traditions and styles from the world of fine art and from commercial culture.

One of our strongest collecting areas is our collection of Asian art, and within that, Japanese art and architecture provide a perfect context for his art to be seen.

This is one of the most ambitious exhibitions that the CMA has ever put on.

So when I came first time here, I was looking for the oh my God, this this museum has a lot of masterpiece.

So this atrium is a beautiful, beautiful, you know, sunlight.

The shadow is good for.

That's why I really want to make it for the sculpture.

Anyone who walks into the Ames Family Atrium during this exhibition will be greeted by the uma dono temple.

And this is a special creation for Cleveland's presentation.

It's a site specific reimagining of the Madonna Temple, or Dream Hall in Nara in Japan, and it was created by Murakami together with the creators and designers for the hit TV series Shogun.

I saw the show.

The movie was very touch with my heart in, Japanese soul.

And, you know, I was contacted for the Disney Japan people.

And then I asked for this idea.

Crazy idea.

Can you, you know, introduced to the, art department people and also the if we can collaboration in this museum show.

It's incredible.

I've watched this structure go up over the past weeks, and I can't believe the level of detail and care and precision that has gone into it.

And it looks so different on the outside than it does on the inside.

Visitors to the exhibition will get to enter the humidor now, where they'll be greeted by four monumental paintings.

Inside is four gods Tiger, Dragon, Phoenix and the turtle.

My favorite.

He's a total.

I love me for the design, for the monster.

It's a kaiju, is mythological.

So it really serves as this incredible introduction to what visitors will see downstairs in the main galleries of the exhibition.

Murakami wants his art to be completely accessible, and I think the color is part of that.

It's irresistible.

My favorite color is shocking pink and neon purple.

And then you know how good combination with this two color mixed with the green and yellow.

Murakami is art, draws on manga and anime, which is one of the ways that he engages such a broad audience.

When I was in child, I want to be manga artist, but I have to give up because this talent is huge in Japan, is a hierarchy, is artist and the manga this is manga artist, pop and animation and game is same and artist is a bottom.

That's why my standing position is the bottom.

In the Japanese society.

The flowers greet our visitors here on the wallpaper.

They're probably the form that is most closely associated with Takashi Murakami.

In the Japanese painting history.

The main theme is, nature.

I am very lovely for that.

You know, Ichiban stuff in the flower.

So, like, basic.

My life.

That's why, you know, very naturally to make you for the flower paintings.

You'll see them in paintings, in wallpaper, in sculptures.

But you'll also see them on T-shirts, on baseball caps, on cookies.

And that's Murakami asking us to question how great the divide is between those worlds.

The title of this exhibition comes from one of the most impressive paintings in the exhibition, which is called In the Land of the dead.

Stepping on the tail of a rainbow.

This 82ft long painting was inspired by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed.

From that.

So I have, several pieces beginning from the earthquake.

What is the biggest effect is one shot.

The earthquake and tsunami.

A lot of people that it's kind of the almost, you know, like the same level.

Right.

Kind of the in a war stuff.

A constant and constantly evolving theme.

And Murakami's work is how people respond to disaster.

And he makes the point that it's not only through grief, it's also through an outpouring of creativity, through religious fervor, through escape fantasies that are fulfilled in the digital realm.

And so this exhibition is in many ways about art's capacity to give us new outlets and to heal.

One thing that I hope audiences take away is, you know, presenting contemporary art at an encyclopedic museum like the CMA, is a unique opportunity.

And with Murakami's art, we have an opportunity to carry forward in time historical narratives.

I hope they see the ways that the past can cast new light on the present, and the way that contemporary art can help us see with fresh eyes, the past.

When I came here, many people recognized me already.

That means, like, or the funding for the promotion in this museum.

The museum is, very hard in the city.

People to me, if very good touch with, you know, proven people is great.

So it was nice for us.

“Takashi Murakami Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow” is stil on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art but closes after Sunday September seventh.

We always have fun here on “Applause,” and we want to share that with you.

So how do we do that?

How about a free weekly newsletter with arts and culture events for you to do in Northeast Ohio.

Its called the to-do list.

All you have to do is sign up, and we do the rest.

Find out more at arts dot ideastream dot org and thanks.

Art can challenge us to to back at recent history whether its Murakami and the Japanese tsunami of 2011 or our next artist Ike Okafor Newsum - and the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Hes a retired Ohio State University professor who spent his career highlighting class struggle and racial injustice.

My full name is Ikechukwu Okafor Newsome.

I was born Horace too, so that was my name.

My parents gave that birth, but the name is changed due to my writing and my art.

I'm from a family of artists.

So my brother Floyd, who just passed in August of this year, then my sister Vicky is a jazz musician, you know, so I like my art, you know?

No one else like that.

I like it, but it's also a commitment, you know, it's something I'm committed to, has to do with my philosophy in terms of identity, social justice.

Madonna and the police.

Well, I'm talking about police violence.

And, suggesting that these unarmed people that color police have mothers who Mr. Moore said, though.

I also believe that.

I mean, I have to.

Acknowledge and respect the ancestral arts.

That is African art for me.

Is this this light that I feel like I'm connected to?

And, I believe that everything, almost everything I do kind of speaks to that.

Appreciation, respect for ancestors.

One of my installations that people really remember is a lynching thing.

I called a boy about almost five foot tall boy, thinking of Emmett Till.

Called about a maple yellow maple.

And he stained in Jacobian stain.

Was very dark, but it made the the the figure look like he had been cremated.

But it's, pretty hard when you look at.

I really do this because I'm trying to change minds.

I want people to see my work and think about what they see, and think about what actions can I take a responsibility to see?

Right now, as we speak, a lot of the things that I fought for are being dismantled.

You know, it's hard to watch that, I'm really sensitive to those kind of things because I was raised that way.

You know, you can't read anything about Martin King's assassination without coming across my dad's name, Floyd Newsome.

My mother was a campaign manager for the first black man to run for mayor and city of Memphis in 1968, so they were very much involved in the local civil rights movement in Memphis.

A lot of my heroes in terms of the arts come from that period.

I recently did a painting that honors their ancestors, and it's always one way is I use fabric.

I, I do a piece based on, textile design with poplar.

These African.

Then and another place I use acidity, which is a form of writing, is ideograms, which tied to Nigeria and Cameroon, to the secret societies and those countries.

The piece is called after the fire.

Shaka and Douglas and Futurism.

This is a late 60s, 70s, you know, becoming a young adult during that period help me form the person I am now.

I always tell people I'm a product of the Black Lives movement, you know, or part of the civil rights movement.

Black.

Those those things gave me a reason for making art was just me not doing my own.

Hold on to your joysticks.

On the next “Applause,” Etomi How do your.

check out Super Mario Brothers in symphony form.

We're bringing an entirely new audience into the classical music world.

Plus, a British born black composer gets his due at Chamber Fest, Cleveland.

All that and more in the next round of “Applause.” I hope you enjoyed this round of “Applause.” Im Ideastream Public Medias Kabir Bhatia leaving you with a highlight from a recent Cleveland Orchestra concert.

These are available in full on the adella app.

Your friend and mine Franz Welser-Most is at the podium leading the orchestra in the tenth and final symphony by Gustav Mole.

He didnt finish the piece before he passed.

So, now were finishing the show with the unfinished symphony.

Production of applause and ideastream.

Public media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.