(L-R) John Stezaker, Balázs Kicsiny: Killing Time, and Art and the Mind-Brain installation shots.

The galleries of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum are buzzing with activity as installation of three compelling exhibitions nears completion.

The photographic collages of London artist, John Stezaker, employ classic movie stills, vintage postcards, book illustrations and other found materials to bring new meanings to old pictures. Adjusting, inverting and slicing them together to create collages that are at once captivating and unsettling, eerie and elegant, nostalgic and absurd in the first U.S. museum exhibition of this influential artist’s work.

Hungarian artist, Balázs Kicsiny, has created an installation that explores the nature of service through unconventional three-dimensional representations of the army, the circus and the restaurant. In Killing Time, Kicsiny both investigates and conflates these institutions and their raisons d’être—to protect or kill, to entertain and to feed—immersing viewers in fragmentary, disquieting and sometimes absurdist narratives that challenge assumptions about who is serving whom, and to what purpose.

This season’s Teaching Gallery exhibition is curated by Mark Rollins, professor of philosophy, in conjunction with his course “Art and the Mind-Brain,” offered by Washington University’s School of Arts & Sciences in spring 2012. The exhibition presents works from the Kemper Art Museum’s collection by Joseph Albers, Romare Bearden, Georges Braque, Tom Friedman, Naum Gabo, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Miró, Rembrandt van Rijn, and others that reveal important aspects of how we see and think.

The three exhibitions open Friday, January 27, 2012 with a member’s preview from 6-7 p.m. and a public reception from 7-9 p.m.
On Saturday, January 28, the Kemper Art Museum will host a panel discussion with Stezaker, Karen Butler, assistant curator of collections, and Michael Newman, associate professor of art history, theory and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, at 11 a.m. in Steinberg Hall Auditorium.
Kicsiny will lecture about his work at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, January 30, in Steinberg Hall Auditorium as part of the Sam Fox School Public Lecture Series.
Mark Rollins will offer a gallery talk of Art and the Mind-Brain in the Bernoudy Permanent Collection Gallery on March 7 at 5 p.m.

John Stezaker
January 27, 2012 – April 23, 2012
Kemper Art Museum, Ebsworth Gallery

Balázs Kicsiny: Killing Time
January 27, 2012 – April 16, 2012
Kemper Art Museum, Garen Gallery

Art and the Mind-Brain
January 27, 2012 – April 16, 2012
Kemper Art Museum, Teaching Gallery

Image from "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth" documentary.

Last month I was given the opportunity to serve as Guest Blogger for the Art21 Blog. For those unfamiliar with the blog, it was initially founded to provide further reading on the artists featured in the PBS documentary series, Art in the Twenty-First Century. In recent years, the blog has broadened its scope beyond the documentary series, and has become a forum for international contemporary art, reaching over 50,000 readers every month. During my two-week tenure as Guest Blogger I was given the freedom to write about any topic that I desired, keeping in mind that the blog reached both national and international audiences.

With this daunting task in mind, I used the blog as an opportunity to showcase the diverse cultural initiatives that have helped to redefine St. Louis’s identity over the past decade. Oftentimes, it is tempting to perceive mid-size Midwestern cities as the homogeneous products of post-industrialism. However, having called many Midwestern cities my home, I feel that such a mindset fails to acknowledge the unique populations, traditions, and industries that have shaped the city’s identity. Though St. Louis may not be the center of the contemporary art world, the city has bred and attracted artists whose socially-based practices address issues that resound beyond our city limits. Throughout my four blog posts, I question how we reconcile the city’s unfavorable economic indicators—such as the recent population decline—with the enormous cultural growth that St. Louis has experienced during the past decade alone.

In an attempt to better understand the role that the city’s identity plays in our cultural practices, I met with ten different artists, social workers, and community activists during the weeks leading up to my stint as Guest Blogger. These individuals included: Juan William Chávez, Theaster Gates, students and professors from the Brown School of Social Work, alums of the Community Arts Training Institute, and Roseann Weiss. Rather than paving over St. Louis’s complex history, each individual I met with actively considers the city’s opportunities and challenges, proposing responsible methods for cultural regeneration.

I invite you to visit the Art21 Blog to learn more about the individuals and initiatives that are working to re-imagine the cultural landscape of St. Louis, moving our city’s cultural achievements beyond local discussions and into international circles.

This summer CAM takes the St. Louis public into artist studios across St. Louis with our 6th Annual City-Wide Open Studios. City-Wide Open Studios offers a unique opportunity for the St. Louis public to explore the creative and personal spaces of local artists while providing the ability to enjoy one of the most exciting parts of contemporary art – the chance to talk with the artists themselves. Through the CWOS program local artists are connected to the museum, while the museum connects participating artists to the larger St. Louis arts community.

Eligible artists must maintain working studios in St. Louis City, University City, or Maplewood to participate in the program, and must be able to open their studios to the public from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on either Saturday, July 30 or Sunday, July 31, 2011. CAM will allocate, based upon neighborhood, which day your studio will be open. On a first-come-first-served basis, a limited number of studio spaces will also be made available at an alternate venue to those artists whose studios lie outside the prescribed limits.

In addition to promoting a tour of your studio, CAM will display ONE work from your collection at the Open Studios Preview from July 26-31. Please note, the artworks act as a small representations of an artists’ studio practice. The Open Studios Preview allows visitors a glimpse into an artists’ practice and enables them to plan their weekend itinerary based upon the physical artworks they are most interested in. Because of the volume of artworks received, 2-D works will be hung salon-style and 3-D works will be organized appropriately within the limited floor space.

Click here to find out more information about City-Wide Open Studios and to register online. The last day to register is Monday, June 6.

Reached just before naptime, St. Louis spoken word artist Brett Underwood said, “I don’t know what to expect, so how can you? Josh and I will be having some of the same kind of fun that we had when I followed him on the air all those nights. I have written one new piece for this session already…what’s it called?…oh, ‘The Liar Has a Squirrel’…and hope to write another or three this week. We are both flattered and excited about the opportunity to play Ear Doctors in such a setting.”

This Sunday, from 1-4pm, as CAM is celebrating Misterios de Mayo/Running of the Bulls Family Day Fun Run next door, the Pulitzer and 88.1 KDHX will offer Dream Sounds, the first in a series of music shows inspired by Dreamscapes. Read the rest of this story here.

April Highlights at the Pulitzer

Dream Matrix Review from St. Louis Magazine’s Look/Listen; A Love Letter From the Rust Belt; Opera at the Pulitzer; Videos of Panel Discussion on the Psychology of Dreams; Next Exhibition: Reflections of the Buddha

Design and print by Firecracker Press

South African artist William Kentridge talks about Max Beckmann’s manipulation of physical space and its influence on his work. Max Beckmann’s The Dream is on view in the exhibition Dreamscapes. Watch the rest of this panel discussion on the Pulitzer’s YouTube channel.

What’s happening this month and some recent Pulizer highlights:

Panel Discussion on Psychology of Dreams
Thursday, April 7, 7:30 p.m. (Doors open at 7:00 p.m.)

The artist Max Ernst noted that painting gave “objective form to what is visible inside him.” This panel explores the varied and complex symbolism of dreams from different traditions in Western psychology. Panelists will introduce their particular traditions and then interpret some of the artworks in the exhibition as they would dreams.
Panelists include:
Britt-Marie Schiller, Dean, Faculty Member at the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute and Professor of Philosophy at Webster University, St. Louis

Rose Holt, Jungian analyst in private practice in St. Louis and Chicago and active in the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago Analyst Training Program

Moderator:

Francesca Herndon-Consagra, Senior Curator, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

Social Dream Matrix

Saturday, April 9, 1:00 p.m.

Art therapist Shelly Goebl-Parker and artists Hap Phillips and Nita Turnage lead a dream matrix. The act of dreaming is normally a solitary one. Through dream matrices, it becomes a shared experience, building a small temporary community when participants enter a dream matrix together. Sharing dreams in this way enables the discovery of new meaning and significance in dreams. The dream matrices are followed by art making as a way to reflect on newfound discoveries, reflections and inspirations. 
Read the rest of this entry »

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you  know that the largest annual gathering for the field of printmaking is happening right now in St. Louis. Yesterday, I met one of the out-of-town speakers for the SGCI Conference next to Bruno David Gallery across from the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.

Swoon, a Brooklyn-based artist, has been installing print murals around town for the conference, and the Pulitzer worked with her to install the one yesterday in Grand Center. Swoon (Caledonia Dance Curry) is the recipient of the Community Engagement Award and is giving a talk today for the SGCI Conference at 4:30pm at the Chase Park Plaza.

We’re also very pleased to announce the Pulitzer’s very own Senior Curator, Francesca Herndon-Consagra, is being awarded with the title Honorary Member of the Council by SGCI. Read about Francesca’s extensive achievements on the conference website.

Internationally-known photography icon Larry Fink will give a free gallery talk on Saturday, February 19 at 11 a.m. at the Sheldon Art Galleries in conjunction with the exhibit, Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire – 50 Years in Photography. This overview of work by Fink includes over 120 photographs spanning his 50-year career and runs through May 21.

Visit www.thesheldon.org for more details about this major retrospective.

The last few weeks at Laumeier have been a duel between incandescent warm and bone-chilling cold.  The cold of course is the 105 acres of frozen tundra that has become territory for the brave and adventurous.  The warmth has been the increasing luminescence in the indoor galleries as Chief Preparator Nick Lang and crew have been installing ten quirky sculptures by Jessica Stockholder, most of which radiant warmth and light when their tail-like electrical cords are plugged into the wall.

On Saturday, February 12, Laumeier Sculpture Park will host the opening reception for Jessica Stockholder: Grab grassy this moment your I’s.  If you love contemporary art, if you enjoy sculpture, if you want to see a lamp, a coffee cup, a shower curtain or a music stand in an entirely new way—don’t miss this exhibition!  The parking lot and sidewalks are plowed, the sun is supposed to be shining so get out of the house and come inside the galleries for a great show and good times.  The member’s preview and artist talk begins at 4 PM with the public reception running from 5-7 PM.

With generous support from Alison and John Ferring, Laumeier, in collaboration with TOKY Branding + Design, St. Louis has produced an artist’s book that pairs images of Stockholder’s work with interpretive poems by St. Louis poet Mary Jo Bang.  You can purchase this unique publication on Saturday and have both the artist and poet sign your copy.

The Sheldon Art Galleries announces the opening of five new exhibits on February 18 with a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception from 5 – 8 p.m.  New exhibits include  Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire – 50 Years in Photography and two related exhibitions by German-born painter Max Lazarus.  For a complete listing, visit www.TheSheldon.org/galleries.asp or RSVP for the opening on Facebook!

On view thru November 28, 2010, the exhibition at the Front Room, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, presents an installation of the Belgium-based organization, Agency, alongside a series of photographs by Miriam Böhm.

Agency, the invention of Kobe Matthys, serves as a platform for highly systematic investigations that make formal inquiry into issues of authorship, copyright, and intellectual property. Existing as a compendium amassed and catalogued by Matthys, Agency gathers facts, subjects, objects, collectives, humans and non-humans to perform speculations and conduct Agency’s exhibitions. In this installation, titled Assembly, Agency displays evidence for the copyright infringement of a certain artist’s renderings of Place des Terreaux – Fontaine Bartholdi et Hôtel de Ville, wherein dubious distribution was enacted. “Thing 001408 (Lyone (Rhône)” bears witness in the Front Room, as testament to the problematic events that take place in the realm of artistic property.

Miriam Böhm, Berlin-based artist, presents a series of recent photographs that, like Agency’s Assembly, demonstrate shifting events of perspective. Böhm’s process begins with photographing marble slabs and faux marble paintings, followed by staging the prints against a textured backdrop, which she then re-photographs – producing a different image altogether. The work emerges, much like the marble slab itself, as a layered tablet of materiality – a compression of pictorial illusion, revealing the limitations of representation.

Image Credits:

Agency & Miriam Böhm, Installation in The Front Room, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 2010. Photos by Alex Elmestad.