NEW BERLIN — You don’t need a passport or need to fly to Chile to see the Easter Island statues. To see the Moai, all you need to do is drive to New Berlin.
Once you are on Cleveland Avenue, you don't have to look hard to find the 14-foot tall and 9-foot wide stone statue replica in Joe Stanke's yard.
“Building this statue was sort of just a whim that I had," Stanke said about sculpting the statue.
He built it in 1980 with some friends just because he could. Stanke was initially fascinated with the look and story of the Moai. Then it simply became a novel thing to do. For the past 44 years, it has been sitting outside his home at 15400 W Cleveland Ave and has become a local legend.
Passersby have stopped to look at and take pictures of the sizeable statue. They park in his driveway, the side of the road, or the driveway to the neighboring substation and take all sorts of photos with the Moai replica. Most often, he sees people pretend to pick the statue's nose.
“I’ve actually had a wedding party come with all the people with their tuxedos," he said.
He has become known as the statue guy. He even has a stained glass window of a Moai on his door and he made a wood carving of a Moai. People also give him small table-sized replicas.
Even the New Berlin Public Library has gotten involved. In a photo contest it hosted, a child took a picture of the Moai replica. That photo was voted to be one of the favorites, and the library turned it into a 500-piece puzzle. I planned to get video of the puzzle. But when I went to film it, the puzzle was checked out. That's a good thing, though. That means people are enjoying the puzzle and the statue.
For all the talk about statues, there is a whole lot more to Stanke than the replica Moai. He's not even really a sculptor.
“I’d like to be known for my painting. I’m a much better painter than I am a sculptor," he said.
Inside the upstairs studio of his house, he practices a style of oil painting called tromp l'oeil. It's a hyperrealistic yet surreal genre of painting that creates optical illusions of three-dimensional objects on two-dimensional surfaces. He has a two-dimensional painting of a package that looks like a real box you'd ship at the post office.
“This is where I’m the most comfortable. I get up here and I got the beautiful light.”
He has had a gallery showing in France and teaches a painting and drawing class every Tuesday night in West Allis. You can sign up by reaching out to him at (262) 786-9473. The class meets every Tuesday night from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Apostles Presbyterian Church at 76th and Orchard. It costs $150 for ten classes.
“This is what I’m really about," he said.
The statue is what everyone sees, and that's okay. But get to know Stanke, and there’s a lot more than meets the eye.
“I did have planned on having my ashes put in the statue. Drill a hole in the top of it. I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not," he said.
The real Moai have been around for roughly 700 years. Stanke would be happy if his replica lasted just a fraction of that time.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
