Art Messer dead at 65

Local artist succumbs to cancer

We're very sorry to report the death last week of Art Messer, a Madison Park artist known both for his cheerful, colorful paintings and for his outsize personality.  He was a regular fixture on the neighborhood scene for many decades, once having operated a frame shop/art gallery in what is now the "black hole of Madison Park" building on Madison.  Messer died after a year-long battle with leukemia.

Messer, who described his art as "Fauvist", was intimately involved in organizing the Madison Park Art Walk, in which his works were always featured---and over the years he often engineered impromptu installations of his art on the walls of various Madison Park businesses (sometimes in empty storefronts).

Although he himself would probably have agreed that he was "a difficult personality," many who knew him could testify to his gift of friendship and his generosity of spirit. He will definitely be missed.