Still and All

David Letterman, Brent Cole, and Gerald Henry
Curated by Bianca Bova

The Suburban
723 S. 5th St | Milwaukee, Wisconsin
On view 27 September—8 November 2025

Still and All takes as its subject an overlap of the work of broadcaster David Letterman, glass artist Brent Cole, and the late outsider artist Gerald Henry. At the heart of the exhibition is Cellphone Case, an object consisting of an iPhone wrapped in layers of colored duct tape, applied by Letterman in complex patterns through an additive process. Following the completion of Cellphone Case, Letterman undertook the assistance of Cole (and his team at the Marilyn K. Glick Center for Glass in Muncie, Indiana) to fabricate various simulacra of the object. The resultant body of work includes Duct Tape Phone Study 4, a cast glass and enamel work that reproduces Cellphone Case at scale. Also on view in the exhibition is David Letterman, a basswood and enamel bust of Letterman by Henry, made in 1995 when Letterman was at the height of his career. The three pieces—all characteristically works of folk art—when taken together invite considerations of intimacy, obsessiveness, and the tribulations of attempting to peel subject apart from object.

We respectfully request that any coverage of this exhibition remain focused on the works included, and their shared context in contemporary art. Please direct all inquiries and interview requests to bianca@biancabovagallery.com

THE SUBURBAN

The Suburban was founded in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois in 1999, and relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in September 2015. Run by Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam, it is a project space that honors the tradition of artist directed programs.

BIOGRAPHIES

David Letterman (Indiana, b. 1947) is a broadcaster whose career has included work as a radio host on WNTS 1590AM, a 5,000 watt commercial station licensed to Beech Grove, Indiana; as an anchor and weatherman on the Indianapolis-area television station WLWI; and as the longest-serving late-night talk show host in American television. The lattermost distinction was accomplished over two franchises: Late Night with David Letterman (NBC; 1982-1993) and The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS; 1993-2015). This was preceded by his brief tenure as host of The David Letterman Show (NBC; 1980), a daytime television talk show. Since 2018, Letterman has served as the host of the longform interview program My Next Guest Needs No Introduction on Netflix. He is the founder of the production company Worldwide Pants, and a co-owner of IndyCar team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Brent Cole’s (Ohio, b. 1968) work utilizes natural and man-made navigational tools to describe metaphorical and contextual environments. He has served since 2010 in the lead faculty position for Ball State University’s glass program in the School of Art at the Marilyn K. Glick Center for Glass in Muncie, Indiana, and has been the recipient of artist residencies in programs including those at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, Tennessee; Ucross Foundation in Ucross, Wyoming; and the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California. His work has been included in exhibitions at Art Basel Miami, Miami, Florida; the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina; and at the John Michael Kohler Center for the Arts, Sheboygan, Wisconsin among many others.

Gerald Henry, née Gerald Henry Ulrich (Ohio, b.1927; d.2005) had a long career as a carman on the Ann Arbor Railroad, which operated primarily as a freight line running between his home in Toledo, Ohio and its terminus in Elberta, Michigan. A self-taught woodcarver, he predominantly made fishing lures, cutting boards, bowls, and other practical household objects for himself, his friends, and his family. Between 1993 and 1995, Henry carved a series of seven basswood busts finished with enamel house paint. His subjects included the Devil (1993), Elvis Presley (Later Elvis, 1993; Early Elvis, 1995), several athletes (Jim Brown, Football, 1995; Michael Jordan, Basketball, 1995; Mike Tyson, Boxing, 1995), and the talk show host David Letterman (1995). The lattermost sculpture’s inclusion in Still and All marks the first public exhibition of Henry’s work.

Bianca Bova (Indiana, b. 1992) is a Chicago-based curator and art critic. Her practice focuses on exhibiting conceptual artists who utilize art historical content and research in their work. She is a member of the United States section of the Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art and a 2025 recipient of the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation Travel Grant for Visual Arts Journalism.