Roxy Paine’s thoughtful Placebo (stainless steel, 2004) at the St Louis Art Museum.
Entries Tagged as 'St Louis'
Roxy Paine at SLAM
December 18th, 2006 · No Comments · Artists, St Louis
Georgia Kotretsos at Boots
December 16th, 2006 · No Comments · Artists, St Louis
Georgia Kotretsos’ exhibition at Boots Contemporary Art Space, 10 Fingers 88 Teeth (open until Jan 7), is conceptual drawing that doesn’t forget either concepts or drawing. Conceptual drawing, which usually implies story more than visual experience, has potential that is often unrealized. I usually brace myself for clever shortcuts squeezed into craft-sized holes.
Not so with Kotretsos’ generous and feisty show. Tight compositions hold loose drawings. Labels and systems choreograph images of smashed and bleeding pianos, along with studies of the technical structures inside pianos that allow them to work. This is the best drawing show I’ve seen in several years. Don’t forget your checkbook.
Anthill Exhibition
December 9th, 2006 · No Comments · Artists, Education, St Louis
Dan Axe
Emily Bax
Here are some shots from Anthill, a conceptual drawing exhibition my students organized this weekend.
White Flag Panel: On the New Abstract
December 8th, 2006 · No Comments · 2004 - 2012 Sketchbook, St Louis, Writing
Brandon Anschultz, Jerald Ieans, Eva Lundsager and Daniel Raedeke spoke with moderator Jim Schmidt last night at White Flag Projects about their exhibition (quite good and closing Dec 16), working strategies and the current abstract painting sensibility. Anschultz and Lundsager stole the show with thoughtful and sincere responses. Among them: opposing strategies of keeping a studio stocked with inspirations or free from distractions, wondering when neon orange will loose its charm and Battlestar Galactica as inspiration.
One of the best questions asked all evening — “Which bodies of knowledge do you collect to inform your work?” — seemed to make the panelists nervous. Apparently this is either a trade secret or the artists are not considering non-painting issues. With abstract painting’s history and conceptual restraints considered, the future of abstract painting will necessitate careful strategy.
Snow Days
December 2nd, 2006 · 1 Comment · St Louis
Life has been at a standstill here in St Louis because of the massive winter storm that came through on Thursday and Friday. The Christiane Paul lecture we were looking forward to was cancelled. Power is out at some of the galleries around town. We’ve been too chicken to drive until today, so we’ve been taking long walks in the park with the dog. It’s a nice change from the monotony of California’s seasonal pleasantry.
Art and Ice Cream
November 26th, 2006 · No Comments · St Louis
A local treasure, as witnessed by the crowd outside the door, Ted Drewes serves “concrete” ice-cream served upside down. Fighting a crowd for twenty minutes for frozen custard has a way of raising expectations. Ted Drewes takes this challenge with both subtle deliciousness that isn’t over-sweetened and price: $4 for two “minis” that were all we could eat. I feel sorry for anyone who nonchalantly orders a large.
Art and Making Beer
November 22nd, 2006 · No Comments · St Louis
Here are two images from the original Anheuser-Busch factory in St Louis, a company that knows how to make beer with art in the form of over-the-top machinery displays. The tour is worth it to see their Clydesdale Horses alone.
Louise Lawler Lectures at the Kemper Art Museum, 7pm, Tonight
November 7th, 2006 · No Comments · St Louis
All Those Eyes, Louise Lawler, 1989 [source]
Louise Lawler will be lecturing tonight at the Kemper Art Museum at 7 pm in Brown Hall 118. The reception begins in the museum at 6pm.
The Politics of Friendship,
Boots Contemporary Art Space
October 16th, 2006 · No Comments · Artists, St Louis
Juan William Chavez, Two on One, 2006
The Politics of Friendship is the inaugural exhibition of Boots Contemporary Art Space, one of two new artist-directed St Louis galleries opening this season with a vision for progressive contemporary art. The appropriately titled show features the work of the founders of the gallery, Juan William Chavez, (St. Louis), Bryan Reckamp (San Francisco), Georgia Kotretsos (Athens, Greece) and Jon Peck (Miami), as well as several other artists.
Jon Peck, detail of untitled self-portrait (costume), 2005
From an outfit made of crepe paper (above), to a painting installation of a coffin, hearse, plush bed, and luxury car, to Juan’s abstracted drawing of the motion in one of the scenes from A Clockwork Orange (top), the work in The Politics of Friendship is fresh, smart and witty. As for Boots itself, with a newly minted artist-in-residence program, a great space, and a director who is interested in risk-taking programming, it looks like this gallery will have many more good shows in its future.
The Politics of Friendship, thru Nov. 30.
Bill Smith Lecture Highlights
October 14th, 2006 · No Comments · Artists, St Louis
Bill Smith operating a bouquet of flowers (with flame thrower assist).
This masking-tape-tentacled structure is powered by a computer fan. Its movement is controlled by the placement of suspended counterweights.
This small sculpture projects a shadow of the rotating moth on the opposite wall.
Bill Smith: Structures and Systems at White Flag Projects until Oct. 21.