Des Moines transcends the national gloom

Jeff Fleming’s “The Milky Way”

Listen to the elite guardians of American culture, and you might think the art world is self-destructing. The New York Times writes that the Broadway musical is doomed — by bad ticket sales, $250 average ticket prices, and audiences that prefer old classics. They have been saying that about opera for decades, though. The Washington Post writes that the Kennedy Center is doomed by lagging ticket sales and the Rambo-led barbarian hordes of Donald Trump. It has been hemorrhaging taxpayer money for decades, though. 

Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” became the most expensive single painting ever, selling for $236.4 million. The art media had to explain that the subject was not the disgraced Columbia University law professor who wrongly prosecuted the Central Park Five and that the genocidal hatred of Jews did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023. The Elisabeth Lederer in the painting escaped Nazi death camp duty by passing herself off as Klimt’s daughter.  

Ambiguity ruled pop music. Four different musical artists were declared “artist of the year:” Lady Gaga by Video Music; Billie Eilish by American Music Awards; Bad Bunny by Spotify; and Tyler the Creator by Apple Music. 

Leah Kiser’s “Symbiosis”

Locally, the arts are doing much better. The Civic Center’s Broadway series in 2026 will include long runs of three Broadway shows that are selling 90% of their seats in New York: “Six” in January; “The Outsiders” in February; and “Wicked” in September. The Des Moines Metro Opera is coming off its best year and expects its earliest ever sellouts in 2026. Des Moines Symphony looks to another sweet year beginning by matching “Romeo & Juliet” on Valentine’s Day. TJ Moberg of Moberg Gallery says his gallery bounced back from its first-ever down year in the election anxiety of 2024 to surge in 2025. He expects 2026 to be their “best year ever.”  

January touts

Jeff Fleming returns to Moberg Jan. 9 with a year of reflections on “The Milky Way.” Who does that? The Milky Way is why the genius composer-turned-novelist Paul Bowles titled his greatest work “The Sheltering Sky” — because daylight protects us from contemplating the vast nevertheless of that infinite star stuff. 

Our preview of this show impressed us with its brave look into that vastness. Fleming actually painted much of these with pins and needles. Consider a few things that have been written about his sole subject matter: “We’re made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” – Carl Sagan; “I can never look now at the Milky Way without wondering from which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are coming.” – Arthur C. Clark; “Look at the stars. It helps you to remember that you and your problems are both infinitesimally small and conversely, that you are a piece of an amazing and vast universe.” – Anonymous. 

If the Milky Way is too foreboding, spend some time in Des Moines Community Playhouse’s Studio Theater contemplating another common nightmare — the Big Bad Wolf. “Little Red Riding Hood – Both Sides of the Story” by Allison Gregory is told from the point of view of a hungry, misunderstood and vengeful wolf, interrupted by a delivery driver who looks a lot like Red Riding Hood. These productions Jan. 9-26 are priced at just $16-21. 

Olson-Larsen Gallery’s “The Animal Show” brings together Joe Broghammer, Heidi McKay Casto, Bryan Holland, R. J. Kern, Leah Kiser, Paula Schuette Kraemer, Gary Olson and Steve Snell with the animals who fascinated them. Kern shows a few “divine animals” from his superb show of 2024 plus some new friends from county fairs. Broghammer brings ominous birds that could illustrate Edgar Allen Poe. Leah Kiser’s flamingos, orangutangs and murderous cats are the animals that will haunt you. Those flamingos are depicted in Charles “Darwin’s Daydream” and the orangutangs on “Symbiosis.” Check them out. Through Jan. 31.