Long Reviews
Culture and Starters: S.E. Nash’s Cultural InquiryThrough Fermentation
While listening to an interview with the artist S.E. Nash and other fermentation enthusiasts on an episode of KCUR’s program Central Standard, I was struck by the use of the word “culture.”
Zoe Chressanthis’ Utopian World
The exhibition YET, UNKNOWN proposes that knowledge is dependent on an understanding of the unknown that is based on our own experience of the world.
Tactile Rituals and Feminine Power in The Work of Shelby Burchett
Being in touch means understanding the people and the ideas that surround us. By touching things we form a deeper connection with the physicality of our immediate world.
Hidden Metaphors of the (Clay) Body in the work of Kimberly LaVonne
Kimberly LaVonne’s conversation with Gisela Morales centers around the metaphysical history and presumptions placed on the bodies of women and considered through clay.
Planning For A Future That We’ve Already Seen: Mark Raymer Constructs Dystopian D.I.Y. Narratives
In 1992, a report was commissioned by the Sandia National Laboratories and the Department of Energy (DOE) in the United States.
E S S A Y 2: Who Should Play the Flute, or, Who ShouldPlay the Flute?
Aristotle stands on a low flat rock, a horseshoe of students sit on the ground around him. The students wear holly wreaths on their heads and togas the color of their school, held closed by safety pins decorated with carved abalone rainbow trout.
A Material Memoir: Gerry Trilling’s Narrative Atlas
When I first encountered Gerry Trilling’s artwork in her studio at Studios, Inc., I came face to face with a fuzzy pink rug that you would expect to find in the dorm of an art student, the proper setting for this material is definitely not in an art gallery.
Questioning Signs of Authority With Oli Watt
Modern day Dadaist Oli Watt is known for his comments on the current questioning many millennials have regarding the value of a college education by creating sculptural and 2D rendered parodies that criticize the establishment.
E S S A Y 1: Line in Muck.
The characteristics of good Art and bad Art are apparent to each of us when we are alone and don’t gain anything by our judgements. Good Art has something to do with truth and earnestness and satisfaction, and so bad Art that has something to do with the opposite of those things; to be disingenuous, to be callow, to submit to being unsatisfied.
Exploring Cultural Memory in The Work of Lyndon Barrois Jr.
I first encountered Lyndon Barrois Jr.’s work at the CAMSTL where his installation Of Color was exhibited. In the gallery was half a basketball court: fresh, black asphalt with crisp white lines, a hoop, and a basketball.
HOMEWARD: A Fictional Response to Forebears by Mark Raymer
The following is a fictional response to Mark Raymer’s work “Forebears,” from the show Pinch/Punch at Beco Flowers in February 2017.
Relocating Context and Comparison in Rashid Johnson:Hail We Now Sing Joy at the Kemper Museum
There is a noticeable recurrence in the art press comparing Rashid Johnson with Jean- Michel Basquiat. A 2015 Johnson review in Pahaidon, and again in late 2016, looks at the superficial markings of both artists, leaving out the cultural subtexts from each.
Light and Dark, Sight and Sound: Janet Cardiff- 40 Part Motet Meets The Photographs of Dave Heath
Walking through the Nelson-Atkin’s contemporary wing, you could hear the gently building reverberation of Janet Cardiff’s 40-Part Motet. This sound piece and Multitude, Solitude: Photographs of Dave Heath were advertised as a joint exhibition, but the synergy of both shows became a happy accident
Crushed/Optimistic: Photography, Poetry, & Brandon Forrest Frederick
Brandon Forrest Frederick is an artist / organizer / educator / person that I happen to know very well. We have worked side by side for four years as members of Archive Collective, and both pursued our photographic educations in the same institution (four years apart).
Intimate Strangers: A Response to Dawit L. Petros and Emmanuel Iduma’s conversation at H&R Block Artspace
At H&R Block Artspace, Dawit L. Petros’ The Stranger’s Notebook, brings a conversation that asks what it means to be a stranger to other people, places and archives.
Misty Gamble’s Decade of Femininity and Indulgence
Placed around the gallery are sculptural forms of women that defy presumed standards of beauty coexisting with ceramic bedazzled panties. Within these offsetting representations of femininity lie truths about beauty, all held within a thick coat of Rococo pizazz.
Piercing the Cultural Whiteness: Empathy and Survival Through the Lens of Silvia Abisaab
Silvia Beatriz Abisaab’s practice is one of reciprocity, giving care and attention to her subjects. She uses photography and video to document the humanity in the lives of people and communities, while providing access into the intimate spaces of others.
Where is Nuance Found? A Review of Arterial Echoes:Three Generations of Creative Mentoring
Arterial Echoes: Three Generations of Creative Mentoring, at UMKC’s Gallery of Art , which ran from September 8th through October 28th 2016, presented a series of work shown in eight groups of three: one UMKC faculty member, their mentor, and a student (the faculty member taught).
Where is Nuance Found? A Review of Arterial Echoes:Three Generations of Creative Mentoring
Arterial Echoes: Three Generations of Creative Mentoring, at UMKC’s Gallery of Art , which ran from September 8th through October 28th 2016, presented a series of work shown in eight groups of three: one UMKC faculty member, their mentor, and a student (the faculty member taught).
Macro Essay: Kahlil Robert Irving Discusses Direct Driveby Kelley Walker at CAMSTL
Kahlil Robert Irving, a St. Louis-based artist, Kansas City Art Institute Art History and Ceramics alum (‘15), shares his response to the exhibition Direct Drive: Kelly Walker at The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (September 16 – December 23, 2016).